The Progression of Regression
by Have.Will
Summary: When Allison Argent arrives at the Beacon Hills Academy for the Supernatural, she only has one thing on her mind: becoming the best hunter her family has ever produced. The last thing she expects to happen is an unexpected friendship with the very thing her family has sworn to kill and an even more unexpected love. (Rated T because I wasn't sure what to pick)
1. Nice Choice, Nice Life

At Beacon Hills Academy, there's certain categories the students fall into; Shape-shifters, Casters, Emissaries, and those who prey on the non-humans of the world, the hunters. All hunters come from a long line of them, dating back centuries for some families. They all have their own view on how their hunts go, but follow a general code of conduct. For most families, they hunt the rabid werewolves or the witches and warlocks who choose the dark path. But there are a few families who aren't so merciful. Some families, like the Argents, have their own code.

"We hunt those who hunt us." These are the words Allison has been raised on. The Argent family has devoted their lives to hunting werewolves and saving any human life they can for hundreds of years. While the intentions were good, this code has provided a few gruesome conditions for the family. If an Argent is bitten by a werewolf, they must take their own life. As hard as it is for some of those who have come to this conclusion, it is thought better to be a dead human than not human at all.

While the Argent family begins training at the young age of 8, at the age of 15 they, like most other people involved in the supernatural world, are sent to the Beacon Hills Academy, where specialists, in some cases who have been around before even the Argents' time, help them to hone their skills and teach them everything they need to know about the prey their family has chosen to chase. Allison has been looking forward to attending Beacon Hills for as long as she could remember. She dreams of the day she can follow in her mother's footsteps and lead her family in their war on werewolves.

"So, are you ready?" a nervous Chris Argent asks his daughter. Allison pulls the headphones out of her ears, "Dad, you're more worried about this than I am. I'm actually really excited." Allison actually was just a b`it nervous. Starting a new school can be frightening for anyone, but for Allison, the pressure was at a new level. "I'm just concerned about you being on campus with wolves. A lot of packs we've fought with in the past attend Beacon Hills. I know you will be safe during class, but what about when you're not in class? You haven't had enough training to fight a werewolf on your own yet. I ju-" "Dad, please. You kept me home a year longer than the others. I know enough to protect myself against a pubescent werewolf." Truthfully, the werewolves were the last on Allison's list of worries. What troubled her more than anything was proving herself to the rest of the hunters at school.

The Argents are a well respected family in the hunting community, many hunters seek advice from them when faced with a new danger. While many people revered the Argents, there were a few families who didn't give them such high regard. Those were the people that Allison was worried about. She needed to prove herself, to prove that she not only carried the Argent name, but also lived up to it. "Well, here we are, Beacon Hills Academy." The academy's main building sat at the entrance to the campus. It was a 3 story brick building with a large bronze sign hanging above the entrance that read "BEACON HILLS ACADEMY". The parking lot was filled with students and parents, all unloading their cars and saying goodbyes. "Allison, honey, your father and I will go park the car. Go on inside and get your paperwork started, we'll be right in." "Okay." With that, Allison opened the car door and began making her way through the large crowd of people.

As Allison made her way through the lobby, she stumbled over a bag and fell to the floor. "Hey, watch it!" "Sorry, I-" "Argent." The girl said through gritted teeth. As she gets off the floor, Allison is greeted by a tall, brown haired girl who seemed to be just a few years older than her. _How does she- Is she _barefoot_? _"Uh, who-" "Kali. I guess they just let anybody in here, don't they?" "Victoria Argent. What an unpleasant surprise." Chris and Victoria made their way through the crowd to where their daughter stood, still confused about the situation. "Is there a problem here?" "Actually yes. You Argents just thinks you can walk all over anyone," Kali snarled. _I don't even know this girl?_ "Kali." _Oh my god..what is that? _The body that belongs to the deep voice begins making its way to the group. Chris' face flashed panic, but it was gone almost as quickly as it came. "Ennis. What a lovely reunion we're having," Victoria expresses without trying to hide her disgust in the least. Ennis was stocky, 6'5" and towered over most people in the lobby. _This guy's arms make our truck tires look small. _"Chris, Victoria." Ennis nodded. "Kali, this girl probably doesn't even know who you are. It was an accident." Ennis turned to Allison and smiled, his eyes flashing a bright red. Fear crept up her spine but she remained composed. She had never encountered a real werewolf, but she knew if something happened, her father could save her, even if this Ennis guy is an Alpha. "We're leaving now." Ennis grabbed Kali's hand and dragged her away, all the while she was glaring at the Argents.

"I really don't think it would hurt for you to stay home for one more year. We can train you more. We can start taking you on hunts to get used to-" "Chris, she's perfectly fine." "Yeah, dad, I could have handled that." "Allison if you had angered her even just a bit, Kali would have ripped you apart. I just want you to be more prepared, let's go." He turned away and starts to leave when Allison grabbed his arm. "Dad please, I can do this. I'm an Argent." After a long pause and a sigh, Chris accepts it and begins to head to the registration table.

"Name?" asked a pale woman with long, curly black hair. Her voice was monotonous and sounded like she had been doing this for a long time and was ready to go home. "Argent," spoke Chris. It was as if he had said he murdered her family because as she looked up from the table she looked terrified. "Oh, Mr. Argent. I'm so sorry. Uh, Argent. Okay, first name?" "Allison," Allison moved forward in front of her parents, "I'm Allison." "Okay, Ms. Argent. I'm Jennifer Blake. Looks like I have you first period. I teach Lycan Death and Druidology," the woman says with a smile.

_What the hell is Druidology? _"Uh, which class?" "Lycan Death 101. Okay let's see your room assignment.." Ms. Blake looked back to her stack of papers and started thumbing through the names. "Ah, of course, Winchester Hall. I should have known," she says with a small laugh. "Looks like you're rooming with Lydia Martin. She-" "Is she a hunter too? She's not a Shifter is she, I mean they didn't start letting them into the hall did they?" "Chris! That was highly inappropriate." Allison and her mother both became incredibly embarrassed. _Did he seriously just say that? I mean, I don't WANT to room with a Shifter, but as long as it's not one of the mutts I won't complain too much.. _"Uh, no, Mr. Argent. The only students allowed in are hunters and Emissaries. Ms. Martin is an Emissary, and a very bright one at that. She has an IQ of 170. She's a sweet girl, Allison. I'm sure you two will get along just fine. Now, if you'll just sign here you can go get situated. It was wonderful meeting you Mr. Argent." Allison signed a few documents then received her new room key. "_It was wonderful meeting you Mr. Argent.._" mocked Victoria. With a glare on his face, Chris took the papers from Ms. Blake and turned to leave the table.

"215..216..218? Where's 217?" The Argents made their way around the corner still searching for Allison's room. "Excuse me, miss, could you help us?" "Sure thing! What room?" the girl asked. "Uh, 217." "217? You must be Allison! Wow. And if you're Allison, that means.. Oh my gosh. Mr. and Mrs. Argent, it's such an honor to meet you." "Thanks..?" replies a puzzled Chris who exchanges a confused look with his wife. "You must be Lydia. Hello, I'm Victoria, Allison's mother." Victoria extended her hand to the girl who shook it with so much excitement, she thought she was trying to tear it off. "Yes, hi! I'm Lydia Martin. Our room is right down here." The 5'5" strawberry blond grabbed one of Allison's bags and lead them down the hall to their room.

Upon entering, Allison noticed that one side was already completed; unpacking done, pictures hung, and bed made. The other side, was completely empty with only a bed, dresser, and desk. "I was kind of hoping that once you got here you would spruce it up a bit. If I have to look at that white wall all year, I'll go mad." Lydia helped the Argents carry in all of Allison's things and said goodbye to them as she left for dinner with her own parents. "Well, she seems like a nice girl," said Victoria as she was unpacking the last box of Allison's clothes. "You two will be the best of friends, I know it." I_f we even get along.. She's just a bit too pink and peppy for my taste._


	2. The Abduction

"It's finally here! We're finally Beacon Hills Warriors." Scott McCall and his best friend Stiles Stilinski walked into the boys locker room and started undressing. "I still don't see where you were bitten, Stiles. When Peter bit me, it left a huge scar. I still can't get rid of this thing.." Scott traced the teeth marks left on his abdomen by Peter Hale. Stiles pulled his shirt up and the top of his shorts down about an inch to reveal a scar left by a tooth. "I told you man, Laura's a kinky little wolf girl. I thought I was getting lucky for once, not being bitten by Derek's sister who hates me almost as mu-" "Dude if she hates you, why did she bite you?" Scott said in a patronizing tone. "Because she recognized my potential for awesomeness, obviously."

Scott was still looking at Stiles' bite when Coach Finstock approached them. "Part of me wants to ask, the other part says knowing, will be more disturbing than anything I could ever imagine. So..I'm gonna walk away." "That's a wise choice coach." Stiles let go of his shorts and pulled on his jersey. "See ya out there," says Stiles as he shuts his locker and walks away with Isaac Lahey and Vernon Boyd, leaving Scott alone in the locker room. _Ugh, where's my other glove? I thou- _Scott stopped. Something didn't feel right and he thought he could smell another wolf. _Of course there's another wolf, the school is full of them..but this one doesn't seem right.. _Before he had a chance to turn around, Scott was knocked to the floor and pinned face down. At first he was scared but then he remembered that unlike his old school, he could freely shift then overpower his aggressor. As hard as he tried, Scott couldn't get up and soon had a bag thrown over his head.

"Who are you? Where are you taking me? What's going on? Answer me!" Scott tried to shake the bag off his head and cut his hands free but the ties were made of something similar to metal and his claws couldn't cut through them. "Relax, Scott. We're just going for a little ride." _I know him.._ The voice sounded familiar to Scott. He couldn't put it with a name or face but he knew he had heard it before. The car he was in eventually stopped behind what he assumed was a secluded area, but then he heard a bell ding and could make out strangers' voices. "Alright McCall, here we go." This time the voice was different, still as familiar as the other, but different. Scott could feel two sets of hands lift him up and carry him out of the vehicle and into a nearby building where he could hear another voice asking what was happening. _Stiles? _"Stiles?!" "Scott?" _It is him!_ "Stiles! Are you okay?" The hands dropped Scott onto the floor next to Stiles and left the room. "Dude do you know what's happening?" "No, but I know the voices. I can't figure out their names but I know those voices." "Yeah I know. One of them sounded like Danny Mahealani but I wasn't sure." "Danny? Stiles, why would Danny-" "Why would I what?" Danny pulled the bags off of Stiles and Scott's head revealing an empty room with nothing but the chairs they were in and three other guys. _Isaac..Boyd..is that? Is that Jackson Whittemore? What is going on here.. "_What are you going to do with us?" Scott could feel his fangs growing as he tried to keep himself calm. "We just wanted to show you something." "And you had to tie us up for that? Yeah gr-" "Would you have come with us if we had just asked you to, McCall?" Jackson stepped forward with a large blade and Scott could hear Stiles' heart rate rise. "Exactly, you wouldn't have." Jackson went behind Stiles grabbed his shoulder, raising the blade to his back. "No!" screamed Scott. With one swift movement, Jackson cut through the ties holding Stiles' hands together. _What?_ Jackson approached Scott and cut his ties too. Scott and Stiles both stood and shifted, prepared to fight their classmates. "Guys, seriously. We're not here to fight." Danny laughed a little then started walking towards the door, followed by Isaac and Boyd. "Well? Go on." Jackson motioned towards the door and Scott and Stiles followed the boys. "If anything happens, just run. We'll meet up later in our room, okay?" "Alright." The boys pushed open the door and were greeted with a bright light and a large group of their friends and family shouting "Surprise!"

"What the-" "Oh Scott, your friends wanted to congratulate you guys on finally getting into the academy." Melissa McCall crossed the floor, shaking her head at her son. Stiles, who was still confused, walked over to his mother and hugged her. Lydia rushed up to Stiles and gave him a hug and a kiss. "My little wolf boy can finally become a wolf man," she smiled and leaned in for another kiss. Isaac came over and slapped them both on the back. "Sorry boys, we had to give you a little scare, we needed some fun too." Boyd left the room and Jackson and Danny brought Scott and Stiles both a small box. "It's sort of a tradition to give all first year wolves a pendant. Something to signify their allegiance to their Alpha-" "OR to signify their pack. Their family." The boys opened the boxes revealing a small iron pentagram tied to a leather strap. "It's been a running joke with our packs to give them a pentagram, sort of an homage to that cliché Wolfman movie," the body belonging to the soft, comforting voice stepped forward. "Talia!" Scott ran over to the woman and gave her a hug. Lydia leaned in to Stiles, "Who is that woman again?" "_That woman_," said Issac as he stepped closer to her and Stiles, "is Derek's mom, Talia Hale." "She's also Laura and Cora's mom. And Peter's older sister." Issac rolled his eyes at Stiles' rambling. "She's practically the Alpha of all Alphas."

"She's also standing two feet away from you," Talia said with a smile. The rest of the guests had began eating and talking amongst themselves, when Boyd came back into the room carrying a large, flat box. "I almost forgot the cake!" When he pulled the lid off of the box, it revealed a photo of Taylor Lautner from the Twilight movies on top of a cake with the words, "Congratulations Scott and Stiles!" on top of it. "You have got to be kidding me." "What? Taylor is a total hunk." Danny took the cake from Boyd and set it on the table. "I just hope he tastes as good as he looks." Danny winked at Scott before he cut into the cake and licked the knife. "No complaints from me," he smiled.


	3. Be All You Can't Be

"Are you sure you'll be okay, Erica?" Mrs. Reyes pulled some money out of her purse and handed it to her daughter. "Mom, I'll be fine. I'm just going to the store for a minute." Erica Reyes pulled on a gray sweatshirt and took the money from her mom. "I know, but you know how your father is when it comes to you going out alone.." _You mean with me going out at all. _"I know. I'll be fine. Promise!" Erica slipped out the door and started walking down the street towards the mini-mart.

Erica Reyes has blond hair that lays in messy curls, signs of acne here and there, and she stands at about 5'4". There's nothing extraordinary about her life, it's a rather simple one. That is, until she has an episode. Erica suffers from severe epilepsy, the seizures are some of the worst doctors have ever seen. One side effect of her medicine is terrible migraines and she is in dire need of some Advil right now.

It started getting dark and about halfway to the store Erica felt eyes on her. She sped up and kept her hand on her house keys as a makeshift weapon, just in case something happened. _What was that?_ She picked up her speed again, her heart beating even faster. She heard footsteps, at first far behind but then moving closer. _I'm almost there. It's right there, I can see it. Just a few more minutes. I'm almost-Oh no. _And then it happened.

Just then Erica had trouble breathing. Her heart was beating so fast she thought it was about to come out of her chest as she collapsed onto the sidewalk below her. As Erica lay there convulsing, a man in dark clothing came up to her. Erica was still somewhat coherent and at first was relieved, she thought the man was going to help her. Just as he leaned over her, he turned her on her side to reach into her pockets and pulled out her money and cell phone. He touched his finger to her lips as if to shush her and ran away just as Erica started slipping into unconsciousness.

Moments later another man approached her. He stood over her, at first looking frantically between her and the direction the other man went. Then he knelt down and scooped her up into his arms. It felt like they were flying, they were going so fast, and just before she fell completely unconscious, Erica could have swore she saw the man's eyes flash red when they were hit by a passing car's headlights.

_Where am I? _Erica woke up in just a hospital gown and her socks and after checking the wall clock she saw that a few hours had passed. _Ugh, my head is killing me.. _"Erica, you're awake." Nurse McCall approached the bed and flashed a light into Erica's eyes. "What happened to me?" "Well, something caused your heart rate to go up at such a rapid rate it induced a seizure." "I was being chased, someone took my phone a-" "We know, the man who brought you in told us what happened. It's just lucky he was there to save you," Ms. McCall smiled and patted Erica on the shoulder before she started to leave the room. "Wait who was the-" _She's gone. _She laid in silence for a few minutes before she tried to get up. "Stay down." Erica didn't know who the voice or the hand that was pushing her down belonged to but it sort of frightened her.

The man wheeled Erica down a long hallway and into an empty room, locking the door behind him. "Wh-who are you?" Erica asked, trembling. "You get a warning right before you have a seizure, right?" The man walked around to the foot of her bed, his voice low and calm as he traced a line down the side of her leg with his finger. "It's..called an aura. It's like a metallic taste in my mouth." The man laughed, "You don't have to lie to me, Erica. What does it really taste like?" Erica sighed. "It tastes like blood." "What if I told you, all of that could go away?" The man slid his hands up her legs. "The symptoms, the side effects," he grabbed her legs and jerked her forward until she was just inches from his face, "not only do those things go away, but everything else," the man reached up and caressed her face, "just enhances." Erica let out a small, nervous laugh. "How?" The man leaned back, "Let me show you." Just as the man leaned back in, his eyes turned bright red.

"You did _what_?" Laura Hale started towards her brother, but just before she got in arm's reach, their mother stepped between them. "Now hold on. Derek, explain this to me. Why did you turn this girl?" Talia motioned to the blond standing timidly in the corner. Derek took his mother's hand and lead her into another room. "Mom, I had to." Talia's face was confused as she listened to her son's explanation. "I was walking back to school and noticed some guy was following this small girl.." Derek shook his head and looked down. "She started walking faster, almost running, and then out of nowhere she just...dropped." "Dropped?" "Dropped. I know now it was because she started having a seizure." Talia's face flashed concern but quickly turned to a calm expression. "The man, the one that was following her, at first I thought he was going to help. He leaned over her and I thought he was going to pick her up but he just took her money and ran." Derek tensed. "I almost didn't even save her because I wanted to chase after him and rip his throat out with my teeth." "Derek.." "I know, we don't harm anyone who doesn't harm us. I know, but how could he do that? She's just a kid. So I took her to the hospital. She seemed so helpless. I couldn't imagine living my whole life like that." "Son, you have a kind heart but-" "I gave her a choice. I didn't force it on her. I did everything right, I just didn't tell you about it." Talia began to shake her head. "I told her all about it. I told her about hunters, about the urges during full moons, I told her everything, the good _and_ the bad." "And she accepted it?" Derek shook his head yes. "Okay, well..what is she doing here? Shouldn't she be with her parents?" "Well, that's just it.. She went to her parents, trying to explain what happened. But..they kicked her out. They didn't think having one of the "filthy murdering mutts" in their house was a good idea." _I was really hoping my parents would be happy.. I mean, no more medical bills or hospital visits.. I could be a better daughter for them. I could be a better student, I could start having friends like a normal person.. That's all I want, to be normal. If being bitten by a half wolf half human is what it takes to do that, then fine. I'll use everything I'm given to become the best Erica Reyes I can be. I will be everything I couldn't be before._

"And what do you expect of us, Derek?" Laura said angrily as she entered the room. "We're not some daycare service for every random person you decide to bite." "Laura." "Mother, Derek and I are both in school. We can't just babysit her. She can't stay with you, her parents didn't want her-" "Laura." Talia said more sternly as she glanced back to the other room where Erica sat, almost in tears. "She can hear you." Derek seemed to be getting angry, "No one has to _babysit_ anyone," he said through gritted teeth. "He's right," Talia said with a smile as she turned and joined a now crying Erica and placed her arm around her. "Erica, how would you like to go to a new school?"


	4. Right Back At It Again

"Alright. I worked everything out with the headmaster, you're enrolled and you're rooming with Cora." "Hi! You must be Erica." A small brown haired girl leaped her way to where Talia and Erica were standing. She squeezed Erica tight in a hug and kissed her mom on the cheek. "I'm Cora. You'll be graced by my presence while here at BHA," she laughed. "Hi." Erica responded timidly. "Oh, don't be scared! We're gonna have loads of fun." "Cora's usually a bit, overenthusiastic about things. She'll calm down eventually." Talia grabbed her bag and handed a key to Erica. "This goes to your room. I know you didn't get a chance to get anything from your house, so Cora's gonna take you shopping later, okay?" "Oh, no I couldn't-" "You can, and you will. Now, I have to go. You two have a wonderful time at school." Talia kissed both girls on the forehead before leaving the room.

"I know you're scared; starting a new school can be tough for anyone, but you have an entirely different set of things to worry about on top of that. I was born into this, but you were bitten. It's different for us. I've been around it my whole life and you're only just now stepping into it. It's going to take a lot of getting used to. But don't worry," Cora stepped towards Erica and reached for her hand, "me, my family, we'll help you through this. We'll always have your back." Cora smiled and pulled Erica out of the office and headed towards their room.

"Dude, how am I supposed to remember the difference between a druid and a darach? Both of them sound like potentially homicidal maniacs to me." Stiles threw his books into his bag and started walking back to Guardian Hall with Scott. "Dude it's not that hard. The Darach is a druid who went down the _dark_ path." Scott gave Stiles a light slap to the head. "Whatever. They _both_ sound like bad news to me." "Stiles. Until Laura bit you, YOU were technically training to be a new age druid?"

"Whoa, who's that?" Scott stopped walking and Stiles nearly ran into him. "Who's wh-" Stiles was interrupted by a kiss from Lydia. "Scott, Stiles, this is Allison. Allison, this is-" "You're dating a werewolf?" Allison's tone was calm, but there was a hint of disgust. "Oh, yeah, I didn't even think to mention that. Is that awkward? I feel like it's awkward.." Lydia trailed off and tried to study her friend's face. _If I have to watch my boyfriend tear apart my roommate because she tried to kill him, I literally will not be able to function properly. _"Why would it be awkward?" Scott and Stiles both looked confused. Scott extended his hand, "I'm Scott, Scott McCall." "I'm Allison..Argent" the girl said, not returning the hand offer. Scott was still confused for a moment until he remembered his run in with the Argent family last year. When they were chasing Peter for biting a human, who turned out to be Scott, they got to him first. Gerard Argent tortured Scott for days before he was able to escape. "Oh.." "Well this is sufficiently awkward. Scott, let's go. See ya in class Lyd." Stiles gave Lydia a kiss and waved goodbye to Allison who gave him an unamused smile back.

"Well, that was fun.." Lydia started walking again, Allison close behind. "I can't believe you're dating one of the mutts.." "Hey. Mutt or not, he's still my boyfriend." "Right. Sorry.." Allison genuinely was sorry. She knew the slurs were going to be hard to stop, but for the sake of her friendship and having to live with her for a year, she was going to work on not using them around Lydia. "At least he's cute?" Allison tried to say with a straight face, failing miserably. Lydia knew she was trying and started laughing. "Come on. Let's get to class or Ms. Blake will kill us."

"Who can tell me what a three-fold death is?" Ms. Blake walked into her classroom and sat on the edge of her desk. "Anyone?" Ms. Blake looked around the room at blank faces and came across the back of one student's head. "Mr. Stilinski. Can you tell me what a three-fold death is?" Danny slapped his friend who wasn't paying attention. "Dude, answer her," he whispered. "Oh, uh, a three-fold death.. Uh, a three-fold death is usually seen in sacrificial murders where the victims are strangled with a garrote, their throats are cut open, and there's blunt force trauma to the skull." "Very good Mr. Stilinski," Ms. Blake smiled. "Stiles, actually. I prefer Stiles," he said as he gave Ms. Blake a wink. "Well, _Stiles_, I prefer my students _not_ to inappropriately sass me. So I hope this isn't going to become a habit?" "Actually miss, his middle name is sarcasm." "Ah, Mr. McCall. I heard I would be having you two together. This is going to be one interesting year," she sighed as she turned her back to the class and began writing on the board.

Stiles tapped Allison on the back, "So, you're a hunter, huh?" _Why me? _Allison turned around, "Yes," she sighed, "Problem?" Stiles shook his head. "Nope, no problem, I just wanted to ask if I should be prepared to be shot with a .45 every time I try to visit my girlfriend." This made Allison laugh. "Actually," she leaned in, "I use a bow." Allison turned back around and Stiles turned to Scott who was staring at the girl. "Dude, you okay?" "Huh? Yeah, yeah. I just.." "You just what?" Scott never took his eyes off of the girl. "Uh, I don't know. Nevermind." Stiles shrugged it off and the boys went back to work, Scott still taking the time to glance up at Allison every few minutes.

"You're gonna be fine!" Cora pleaded with Erica. "I just, I don't know anything about any of this stuff. What am I supposed to do if someone asks me a question. What if-" "Erica! Seriously, you will be _fine_." Cora picked up a stack of books and threw them into her bag, "Plus, we have class together right now, then you have 2 with Derek. Don't worry!" _How can I possibly _not_ worry when I'm going to be surrounded by werewolves and vampires and witches and _hunters_ all day long? _Erica reluctantly grabbed her bag and let Cora push her through the door.

"I just don't understand why you're so nervous." Cora said between bites of a pop-tart and sips of an iced coffee drink with a smell that made Erica want to vomit. "I mean, I get that this kinda stuff is new and all but-" she was cut off by Erica's sigh. "I'm just worried this will be like any other school I've ever attended. What if the bite didn't follow through on Derek's promises?" Cora showed a look of confusion before shoveling more of the pastry into her mouth. "What do you mean?" _I guess no one told her about how I used to be. _

"Did no one tell you about before?" Cora shook her head. "Oh, well, the whole reason Derek even offered the bite to me-" "Because he needed another member for his pack," Cora cut her off. "No, no. Well," Erica thought for a moment, "Yeah, that too. But also because the night he met me, I was robbed by some creep while I was having a seizure." "A seizure?! From what?" "I suffered from a severe case of epilepsy, your brother saved my life that night." Cora smiled at this. Though her and Derek fought a lot, she still loved her brother more than anything in the entire world. "Derek thought that the bite would cure it all." "Did it?" "Well..usually by now, I would have seized a few more times, had another hospital visit..I suppose it did.." "See! So no-" "It wasn't the seizures that I was still worried about." Cora looked confused again as Erica pulled out a tablet and searched for a video on YouTube. "Why ar-" "You'll see." Erica flipped through some pages and eventually found what she was looking for. She handed the tablet to Cora who took it with at first a look of puzzlement, "It's just you in-" then her expression shifted into shock and finally disgust. "How could they do this to you," Cora said through gritted teeth. "Give me-" as Cora turned to Erica she saw the girl was picking at her jacket sleeve, and when Cora tilted her head up, Erica was in tears.

"Hey, hey, don't do that.." Cora moved to the other side of the table and wrapped her arm around Erica. Cora wiped a tear off of Erica's cheek and smiled at her. "Are you afraid that that's going to happen again? That you're going to get made fun of again?" Erica shook her head yes. "I just, for once, want to be normal and to have friends and not have people make fun of the way I look or the things that I can't control about myself." Cora laughed, "You wanted to be normal and you thought becoming a werewolf and coming to a school for the supernatural was the way to do that?" They looked at each other and this time both of the girls laughed. "I guess that does sound kind of insane doesn't it?" Cora stood up and pulled Erica to her feet. "Listen here. Just like it does for everyone, the bite has enhanced everything good about you before. You are the most beautiful girl in this school! You're intelligent, and you have a kind heart. There's no reason for you to think anything different." Cora grabbed her bag and the girls started walking. "Where are we going?" Erica struggled to keep up with Cora's pace. "I'm gonna show you how to own your new self and be all that you can be and more."


	5. Call It Karma

Allison and Lydia entered the cafeteria and made their way to a table where Stiles and Scott sat with two of their friends. "You know I'm trying really, _really _hard to be gentile on this whole, best friend-emissary/werewolf dating thing, but eating lunch with a table full of them is a stretch Lyd." Allison stopped walking. Lydia faced her friend and rolled her eyes, "It is _really_ not a big deal, okay? I know you guys hunt them, but werewolves aren't that bad." Lydia turned around and headed towards the table again, sitting down beside Stiles.

"Hey!" Scott quickly stood up and offered Allison his seat next to Lydia. "Here, here you can have mine. I'll move." The other two boys at the table gave each other a amused look before the pale, skinny boy introduced them. "Hi, I'm Isaac," he gave Allison a smile that, if she hadn't known he was a wolf, could have almost made her heart flutter. _This one really _is_ cute. _"And this black beauty right here is his boyfriend, Vernon," Stiles announced as he stood up to throw his food away. "Just call me Boyd, everyone does. And I'm _not_ his boyfriend." Boyd stood up and waved for a girl who was entering the room. "I'm _hers_." Boyd put an arm around the girl and gave her a kiss. The girl stood around 5'5" and had jet black hair. Her skin was a beautiful caramel color and she had dark brown eyes. "Hi, I'm Braeden. You are?" The rest of the kids had started eating and talking to each other as Braeden sat down across from Allison. "Allison. Are you..?" She nodded towards Scott and Stiles. "A werewolf?" The girl laughed. "Yeah.." Allison said timidly. _I don't think I can meet anymore wolves today. _"No," the girl laughed again, "I'm an emissary, like Lydia." "Except Braeden is more into the ass kicking side of things. I'm an intellect," Lydia said with a smug smile.

"Hey, uh, Allison?" Scott leaned in to the girl. "Do you know Kali or something?" "No, not really, why?" "She hasn't taken her eyes off of you since you came in.." "Huh?" Allison turned to face the direction Scott was looking and saw the same barefooted girl as before, with the same piercing eyes and snarling expression, and the bald, powerhouse Ennis attached to her hip. "Crap." _I _really _hope she doesn't do anything. Please, please don't do anything. Just, not right now. Not in here._ "She looks pretty heated." Isaac said in between bites of the veggie burger he stole from Lydia's plate. "What'd you do to her?" He pointed to Kali with his sandwich, spilling some of its contents onto a now very, very irritated Boyd. "I didn't do anything.. I tripped over her bag a couple days ago at registration. I mean, I don't even know her. She knew me though, so I guess my family killed some of her dogs." Allison's face turned bright red. _Crap. _She turned away from Kali and Ennis to face the rest of the table. Lydia and Braeden both seemed worried about what was going to happen next, Stiles could sense the tension and laughed it off. "You know, if you're gonna insult us, at least try and be original Ms. Argent." The rest of the table, except for Allison who was still concerned about her comment, remained expressionless. "I'm sorry. I promise I'm trying, guys.." "No worries. Stiles smells like a dog anyways," Scott smiled. Scott took a chance and reached for Allison's hand resting on the seat next to him and gave it a reassuring squeeze, receiving a small smile in turn.

"Regardless of your family's history with Kali, she seems determined to make it personal between the two of you," Lydia said in a matter-of-fact way. "Uh oh," Lydia's eyes widened as she saw the approaching teen, "something wicked this way comes." Lydia turned to face her food as Kali began to make her way to Allison's table. Allison's jaw visibly tensed and Scott could hear her heartbeat rising. "Don't worry, we'll protect you," he said, never taking his eyes off of Kali. Allison was at first repulsed by the idea of needing a werewolf, or anyone for that matter, to protect her. But after seeing Ennis get up and follow Kali, she didn't think having some extra help would be all too bad. "Argent!" Kali shouted from across the room, causing other students to turn and stare at the encounter. "I've got-" Suddenly a girl with long blond curls wearing a leather jacket and heels stepped between Kali and Allison. The encounter was brief, but the blond knocked into Kali with enough force to cause her to stumble and fall over an extended foot of an unknowing bystander.

The blond stopped only for a moment to laugh at Kali's fall before giving Allison a wink and continuing on to the exit at the other end of the room with Cora. "What..the holy hell..was that?" Lydia asked as the rest of the cafeteria watched Ennis try to contain a severely angered Kali. "That," he paused to smile, "was Erica," announced Derek as he passed the table. Lydia scoffed as the words left his mouth. Turning back to her friends she noticed that they were all still staring in the direction Erica had gone. "She is _not_ that special," she said with a clear, jealousy tinged voice. "You have to admit, Erica looks pretty good." Lydia shot a glare at her boyfriend. "The word sensational comes to mind."

"I _told _you everyone would love it!" Cora exclaimed to her roommate. "You don't think the skirt's too much?" Erica asked timidly as she pulled at the hem of her black mini skirt. "No way, you look gorgeous. You need to own it." "I agree." Derek exited the school and joined the girls at the otherwise empty picnic table. "You look great," Derek smiled, before slipping on shades and getting into his car. Erica wasn't sure why, but her faced turned a light shade of pink and her heartbeat seemed to have increased some. As she watched Derek drive away, she couldn't help but to feel a little sad he didn't stay and talk to her. "Oh god. You do _not _like my brother?" Cora's tone, curious, disgusted, and loud, snapped Erica out of her trance-like stare. "What? No. No not at all." Cora just laughed at Erica's stuttering and forced her off to their next class.


	6. Humble Servant, Am I Part I

"Why didn't you tell us about her?" Isaac burst into the abandoned subway station Derek has turned into his personal underground lounge. "Didn't occur to me," Derek said in between heavy breaths of a bench press. "Can you stop for like five seconds to talk to me?" Isaac pleaded angrily. After a heavy sigh, Derek lifted the bar back into its resting position and sat up on the bench. "What?"

"Why didn't you tell Boyd and I you added a third to our pack? You should have told us! You have to tell us these things Derek." "I don't _have_ to do anything. I'm the Alpha, I make the decisions; you're a Beta, you follow them." Derek got up and put a shirt on before walking towards the stairs. "Derek!" Isaac grabbed his arm. "Isaac," Derek stopped walking, "let go, before I _make _you." Derek violently shrugged out of Isaac's clutch and started up the stairs, leaving Isaac standing in the station. "Well? Are you coming? You have work to do."

"So..tell me again why we have to spy on these twins?" Isaac crouched under the bush to join Boyd. "Derek says we need to keep an eye on the Alphas." "_We_ need to be doing the work then. Where's our supreme leader now, huh?" "Derek said-" "_Derek said_, why do you always listen to what _Derek_ says?" "It's what we're _supposed_ to do? He's our alpha." _Just because I'm _supposed _to follow his directions, doesn't mean I _want _to._ "Derek said he has Ennis, Erica has Kali, we have the twins," Boyd said, clearly annoyed now. _Humph. Why can't Derek follow Voltron wolf? _Isaac laughed to himself. _Honestly, I kinda hate Stiles sometimes, but that _was _pretty funny. _"I get that you would rather be somewhere with all your friends or something but you have a commitment to this pack Isaac. You-" "A commitment? What _commitment_?" Isaac's tone went from its earlier state of boredom to anger. "When Derek gave you the bite, you began the start of a debt you could never repay." _Are you serious right now?_ "_A debt I could never repay?_ Boyd, have you gone mad?" Isaac stood, "Yeah, I'm good at lacrosse now and I can run fast. I'm also marked by just about every hunter in existence, not to mention, even my own kind. I could be killed any second! And I'm supposed to be grateful for that? I'm supposed to _thank _Derek for doing this-" Isaac sighed and leaned down, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder."Boyd..what happened to you man? You used to be so independent-" "Yeah, and you _used to be_ loyal. I guess we've both changed." Boyd stood up and made his way to the diner's entrance. "Well?" He raised an eyebrow and walked through the door, not waiting to see if Isaac followed.

_I'm still loyal. Having my brothers' trust means everything to me. I'm just having trouble coping with all this spy stuff. It doesn't feel right. I know Derek's doing what he thinks he needs to do, but I don't want to be the guy who lurks in bushes. _Isaac stood up and reluctantly entered the restaurant, but as soon as he smelled the food, he was eager to sit down. "Mm.." Isaac smiled, "Mexican."

"Are they still there?" The boy asked his brother, not taking his eyes off of his menu. "Yep," the other boy said with a heavy sigh. "Should we do something?" "Aiden, _what_ are we supposed to do? Deucalion gave the order to leave Hale and his pack alone." "Ethan, I'm not just going to go on pretending like we don't notice them following us around. We're not doing anything wrong. Hale is of no interest to us." As the waitress walked away with their orders, Ethan looked to the table where Hale's pack sat, "They're trying to listen to us." Aiden's face visibly showed his building rage. "We aren't doing anything wrong," when he spoke it was through gritted teeth. "I know, but there's nothing we can do. Just try-" Aiden stood up, "That's where you're wrong." Aiden glanced back to the table where the two boys were sitting then left. "Aiden!" Ethan chased after his brother.

"Crap he's leaving," Boyd said as he got up and followed Ethan and Aiden out. "But my food _just_ got here!" Isaac announced between mouthfuls of a burrito. _Man, _every _time. _Isaac shoved the rest of the burrito into his mouth and threw some money on the table before rushing out the door after Boyd and the twins.

Boyd chased after the twins, at first down the busy sidewalk, but as soon as he almost caught up with them, they took a sharp, left turn, and disappeared. Isaac eventually caught up, "Where'd they go?" "I don't know," Boyd shrugged, "they just disappeared." Isaac looked around them. "We're in an alley? Where-" Aiden came crashing down on Boyd. "Looking for us?" He lunged at Isaac, who reversed the attack and slammed him into the wall. Ethan dropped down and helped his brother up. "Aiden no! We're not supposed to be doing this!" "I don't care-" "Let's just talk to them!" "No!" Boyd stood up, ready to fight. "I'm done talking." Aiden charged at the large boy, hitting him with only enough force to make him stumble. Isaac used this chance to get behind Aiden and grab his arms. "Ugh," Ethan grunted as he tore off his shirt and went to his brother's aid.

Aiden managed to break free of Isaac's grip, then, with the help of his brother, send him hurling towards a nearby dumpster. Boyd charged the brothers, only narrowly missing them and hitting Isaac as Ethan gave him a small shove when he passed. With both of Hale's pack members struggling to get off of the ground, Aiden took the opportunity to tear off his shirt and get down on all fours. Ethan approached his brother and with a powerful blow, his left hand began morphing into his brother's spine. "Oh man.." As the brothers' transition was almost complete, Isaac got up from the ground and tried to pull Boyd up. "Up, man, up! Come on!" Boyd finally stood, stumbling.

The twins, now one, powerful being, released a low, terrifying growl, flashing their red eyes. Boyd looked to Isaac and nodded. "Let's do this." As the two shifted, Ethan and Aiden charged them, reaching Isaac first. One swift blow to the head and he was immediately knocked out.


	7. Humble Servant, Am I Part II

_**A/N: In the next chapter, or two..or three, there are bits and pieces that were part of my idea and most of it is just filler, so I apologize for the upcoming quality. The stuff I'm most excited about writing is far, far off into the distance and all of this is just kind of...building up to it. I appreciate all of you who decided to make it this far!**_

Isaac awoke, confused and weak, still laying in the alley. _Where am I? _He attempted to roll over, but stopped when a shooting pain emerged from his left side. "Agh, oh my god.." Isaac cringed as he traced his fingertips over his ribcage, finding a new mound on his once smooth torso. Isaac lay on the ground, trying to force himself to endure the pain long enough to make it to his feet. As he started to get up, the shooting pain returned but he forced himself to his feet. As soon as he was standing his side felt better, but his head began to throb and he felt a bit nauseous.

"Boyd," Isaac called as he stumbled forward. _Where is he? _Isaac could barely get the thought out before he saw a man laying a few feet away in a pool of blood. "Boyd!" Isaac ran to his friend, kneeling down he lifted his head. "Boyd! Are you okay? Boyd, wake up!" Isaac slapped Boyd in the face a few times, provoking a cough and grunt. _I've got to get him out of here. _"Alright, come on big guy." Isaac attempted to pull Boyd to his feet but quickly dropped down to the ground. "You have to get up, I can't lift you, my ribs are broken." Isaac started panicking.

"Derek! I don't know where you are but you need to get here _now_. Boyd's hurt, I can't carry him, we need you. Hurry!" Isaac had decided after calling Derek and not getting an answer all three times, he would leave a message the fourth. _Still nothing. Ugh. _"Scott." Isaac pulled his phone back out and dialed Scott McCall's number. "Hel-" "Scott! Scott I need your help, please help me," Isaac spoke so frantically he didn't even pause between words to breathe. "Help you? With what? What's going on?"

Scott had been out with Stiles and Lydia when he got Isaac's call. "What's he saying?" Stiles asked as they piled into his jeep and they pulled out of the movie theater's parking lot. "I don't know I can't understand him. He's freaking out. "Isaac, _Isaac!" _"Huh, what?" "Isaac you have to slow down, I can't understand. Just tell me where you are." "The Mexican place on Main Street. Go down a block and on the left there's an alley. Hurry, Scott, please they might come back!" Isaac's call cut off and Scott became even more worried. _Who might come back? _"Stiles, can this thing go any faster?" "Have you seen the piece of crap jeep I drive? We're lucky it even started tonight." Stiles turned to the back seat to look at Lydia, then Scott, and finally, with a sigh, "Alright. Hold on," "And pray," mumbled Lydia as he floored the gas pedal.

"Stiles I understand the urgency in getting to Isaac and Boyd but if you wreck this jeep and ruin my new dress I am going to _kill _you!" Lydia shouted over the loud whir of the jeep's motor. "Maybe you could ease up _just _a little," Scott said, rolling down the window and looking a bit more pale than usual. "_Stiles, go faster. Stiles, slow down. What _do you want me to do?!" He shouted as he turned his head to look at Scott. "Scott. Scott, are you carsick?" "No, just, try to keep this thing on the _road_, please." Scott gripped the frame of the jeep, wishing he could have gotten there faster on foot.

The trio finally made it to the alley and rushed to Isaac's side. "Isaac, what happened?!" Lydia asked as her boyfriend and Scott knelt down to Boyd's side. "I'll tell you on the way just help us get to Derek's!" Isaac slowly stood, wincing from the pain in his ribcage. Lydia rushed to his side and helped him into the front seat of the jeep. Scott and Stiles grabbed Boyd and slowly lifted him off the ground. "Okay he really needs to lay off the Doritos." "Stiles!" Lydia and Scott shouted. "_Not_ the time," mumbled Scott as they made their way to the car and laid Boyd in the back seat.

"We can't all fit with him laying down." Stiles jumped in the driver's seat. "Okay, so Isaac can stay here then. We'll come get him later." "No one is staying anywhere." Scott squeezed into the trunk of Stiles' jeep, "Come on, let's go!" Lydia and Isaac got into the car and Stiles took off before they even shut the doors. "_What_ happened back there?" Scott asked as he leaned over the seat to check on a grunting Boyd. "Derek-" "Derek did this?" Scott's voice was filled with rage and his eyes turned bright yellow. "No, no" Isaac said, trying to withstand the pain of pushing his ribs into place as they healed. "Derek wanted us to keep an eye on the Alphas." "Let me guess, Voltron Wolf?" spoke Stiles from the driver's seat. Isaac nodded. "We held them off as much as we could but..they're a monster. I got hit in the head and passed out. When I woke up, the twins were gone and Boyd was laying there on the ground."

"On the table!" Talia shouted as Derek and Scott carried Boyd into the kitchen of the Hale home, soon joined by Laura helping in Isaac. "What happened to them?" Talia asked as she cut off Boyd's shirt, just as Stiles walked in. "Oh my god, is that brain matter? Yeah, that's brain matter.." Stiles doubled over and began dry heaving. "It is not _brain matter_ you idiot." Lydia approached her boyfriend and placed a hand on her back, rolling her eyes, and asking, "Do you need help or can I take him outside?" "It's fine, go on." Talia said calmly as she began assessing Boyd's wounds. "So tell me, what happened?" "They got into a fight with the alphas-" "What alphas? Deucalion's?".

"Okay, Boyd, if you can hear me, this is gonna hurt," Talia rested one hand on his forearm and the other on his shoulder. After a quick count to 3, she popped it back into its place and turned back to Derek. "Deucalion's alphas?" "Yeah, the twins, the ones that fuze together, that's who did this." "What were they doing with the twins?" Laura asked as she applied something to Isaac's cuts. "It's his fault!" Isaac shrieked. "I told them to keep an eye on them, not fight them," said Derek sternly. "Help me with the stitches, he'll heal faster." As Talia and Derek began stitching up Boyd, Scott and Laura helped Isaac into the living room and laid him on the couch.

Isaac was beginning to become sleepy from medicine Talia gave to him. As he fell asleep for the night, Lydia called Allison and asked her to come pick her up.


	8. Strange Comfort

"Uh, okay, yeah, sure, I'll be there in a few." "Great." _Not only am I surrounded by werewolves, I have to walk right into one of their dens. _Allison reluctantly pulled on her jacket and headed to her car. As she headed towards the Hales' home, she checked to make sure she still had the Chinese throwing knives in her purse. _I sort of trust Lydia, but not any of the rest of them. I don't know why she's there or why _I _have to come get her, but I'm not going unarmed. _For a split second, she even considered calling her dad.

As Allison drove along the trail that lead to the Hale home, she couldn't help but notice the beauty in the surrounding area. "Wow." _If there weren't homicidal werewolves roaming the forest, I'd probably spend a lot of time in here. _Allison was approaching the house and as she came to a stop, she positioned her weapons in an easily accessible position within her bag and went to knock on the door.

Just as Allison raised her hand to the wood, the door flung open and two small children, no older than 11, came rushing by. "You must be Allison." A woman with long brown her and dark brown eyes walked towards her. Allison gripped the knives and readied for battle, but just as the woman got to the door, she spoke again. "I'm Talia, please, come in. I'll get Lydia." The woman waved Allison in, shouted something to the kids that ran outside to play, and closed the door. "You can wait in the den if you like?" She motioned towards a large, open room with a wooden floor and beautiful wooden furniture.

"Your home is lovely," Allison said timidly as she walked into the room and stood by the sofa. "Thank you," the woman smiled kindly and turned to leave but paused and faced Allison again. "Allison," the woman approached her and Allison's heart began racing. "I _know_ you're an Argent. I know what you do, and I know how uncomfortable you are right now in a house full of werewolves." Allison could feel her palms sweating as she clutched the knife in her purse. "I just want _you_ to know something. Hunter or not, you're a friend to someone important to my family. No one will bother you while you're here, I promise that." Allison's grip on the knife loosened a bit, "Except maybe Tyler and Seth." Talia spoke in a stern voice and her face was expressionless. _I knew it, I knew that was too good to be true._ Allison began to think of all the faces she has seen as she walked through the house, trying to figure out which ones were Tyler and Seth so she would know who to fight off. "I heard them talking out in the yard," _The yard? The yard only had two little kids in it._ "They seem to think you're pretty," Talia said with a light laugh. "You know how little boys are.. If I hadn't sent them outside they would probably be in here bothering you right now." Allison's heartbeat finally slowed to a normal rate as she laughed to herself about the two little boys playing football in the front yard. "I'll go see if I can find Lydia." Talia gave Allison another smile just before walking away and up the stairs.

"Hey, Talia, who was-" Scott walked into the living room wearing only shorts and carrying a bowl of cereal. "Oh, Allison, hey! What are you doing here?" Scott sat the bowl down and quickly put on a shirt that was laying in the floor. _I'm almost disappointed he put that on.._ Allison gave him a small nod before sitting on the sofa. "I'm here to get Lydia. Uh, who's Talia?" Scott laughed as he joined her on the couch and switched on the tv. "Talia Hale. She's Derek's mom." "Is she a wolf too?" "Yep! And an alpha at that. She's actually really cool, when we shift, we just grow fangs and claws and there's a few alterations to our facial structure, but Talia can shift into an actual wolf. It's awesome." Scott picked up the bowl of cereal again and started shoveling it into his mouth. "She seemed nice." Allison said. As she sat next to Scott, she couldn't help but notice how comfortable he made her feel. _This is so weird._ She knew she should be alert and ready to fight, but something about being around Scott just made her feel at peace. "Allison?" "Huh?" "I said, was that sarcastic?" Scott asked as he poured the milk from the bowl into his mouth. "No, actually. She really _was_ kind." "She's one of the nicest people you'll encounter. And definitely one of the nicest wolves. She's the Hales' mom, but she's kinda like a mom to all of us." Allison heard screaming and a low growl come from another part of the house.

"What was that?" Allison jumped to her feet and pulled out her knife. "Whoa, whoa, hold on Rambo, they're just resetting Boyd's bones in the back." "Stiles?" Stiles entered the living room and began looking through a duffel bag on the floor. "How's it goin' for ya in the wolf den, Ms. Argent?" Stiles stood up holding some clothes and a water bottle and walked over to where Allison and Scott were. "Well, no one's tried to kill me yet, so-" "Well, generally it's _your_ kind that kills everyone." Another girl walked into the room and took the water bottle from Stiles. "We need you in the back Stilinski. Stop gabbing with the hunter." The girl left, but not before shooting a small glare Allison's way. "That would be Laura. She takes.._a lot_ of getting used to. Lydia should be down soon. She's in the shower. Later slayer." Stiles walked away, leaving only Scott in the room again.

"It's kind of hectic over here right now." "What happened to Boyd?" "Derek gave his pack the order to follow Deucalion's alpha pack around. Boyd and Isaac ended up getting into a fight with the twins and got hurt pretty badly." Scott sat back down on the sofa and Allison soon followed. "Derek ordered _his pack_? Doesn't that include you?" Allison laid her bag on the floor and slid her feet up on the couch to face Scott. "Me? In Derek's pack?" Allison nodded. "No, I'm not his. I wasn't even bitten by him." "So are you an alpha then?" Scott laughed and flashed his bright yellow eyes. "I'm a beta. Peter bit me, he's kinda my alpha." "What do you mean by kinda?" "What's with the sudden interest in me?" Scott smiled. "_Know thy enemy_," Allison smiled back. Scott gave a small chuckle before answering. "I follow Peter's orders, but only when it's something we agree on. I guess I'm kind of more of an omega." "And what causes you and Peter to disagree?" "Someone dying."

Scott looked down at his hands and started tugging on his shirt. "That really _does_ bother you, doesn't it?" Allison studied Scott's face and leaned forward just a bit to hear a now almost whispering Scott. "I never do anything to hurt anyone. Derek..Peter..Deucalion.. All they ever do is settle on the first homicidal plan they come up with. I can't do that. Usually I have to follow along _just_ to keep people from getting hurt." "Why do you do that? Why do you protect everyone?" Allison genuinely wanted to know. She'd never heard of a werewolf with such compassion for life as Scott had. "I have to, they're my responsibility." Scott looked up and for a moment the two sat in silence, Allison just looking into his eyes and both studying each other's face.

Allison snapped out of her daze when one of the little boys from earlier went running by the living room and up the stairs. _Your responsibility? It's not like you turned them. That doesn't make any sense Scott._ "I know it sounds crazy..and probably stupid too, but it's the way I feel." "But why?" "I was bitten..and yeah, at first it was really cool, then it was terrifying. Being tortured for days by an Argent is no fun," _What? _"but after it stopped being _mostly _scary or cool, it became something else. You know that line, the one from Spider-Man, where it's like, 'With great power, comes great responsibility'?" Allison nodded. "Well, it's true. I have all of these abilities now; super strength, super speed, enhanced senses.. I can use these for personal gain like _some _werewolves do," Scott paused and looked around the room to make sure they were still alone. "Or I can try to do some good out of this. If I have the _ability_ to save someone, human or not, I need to. No one deserves to die."

Allison sat silent for a moment, thinking about what Scott had just said to her. He was right. If you have the ability to save someone you should. That's what her father once told her when she asked why her family were hunters. Knowing the things about the world that they do, that makes them responsible. Or at least that's what Chris thought. At the time, Allison didn't quite understand, but hearing Scott talk about the same thing, she understood perfectly. Scott was sitting with his head down, his usually cheery demeanor now quiet and, in Allison's opinion, kind of sad. _I'm just trying to comfort him._

Allison reached forward and held Scott's hand. "You and I have a lot more in common than I thought, Scott." Allison gave him a gentile squeeze and smiled. Scott's eyes seemed to light up. Not in the way they do when he shifts, but just seemed to become brighter. "You know, for a hunter, you're pretty awesome," Scott smiled. Allison blushed only for a second before leaning in, "Keep your friends close," Scott leaned in until their lips were almost touching, "And your enemies closer. Just as their lips touched, Lydia came bursting through the door way carrying an arm full of clothes.

"I don't know what to wear Allison, can-" Lydia looked between the two sitting on the couch who quickly separated and started grinning. "Did I interrupt something?" "Just my life..my happiness, everything I was doing before you ordered me to come to this house of wolves." Lydia raised an eyebrow, "Oh, I interrupted your _happiness_ all right.." she ridiculed. "Shut up. We're leaving now." Allison stood up and grabbed her bag. "So feisty.." Lydia gave Allison a wink and Scott laughed. Allison shot him a glare, "Goodbye Scott." She grabbed Lydia by the wrist and pulled her out the door and into the car. "I'm gonna kill you."

"Okay, okay, I'm ready. Do it." Laura Hale counted to 3 then hit Isaac's ribcage with crushing force. "Agh!" Isaac winced and growled at the pain he felt shooting through his body. "I know, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But I have to set these before they heal or you will have a permanent hill in the middle of your torso." "It's fine, it just hurts." _Ugh, I think I'm going to throw up. I hope I don't do it in front of her. _"Do you know how Boyd is doing?" Isaac asked as he raised up just enough to be in a slight sitting position. "I'm not sure. I know he's got a lot of broken bones..and Peter had to stitch up his side." "He couldn't just heal?" "Not for a cut like that. It was really deep _and_ from an alpha." Laura looked down to the floor and shook her head. "Honestly..there was really good chance Vernon may have bled out if Peter hadn't sewn it closed."

Isaac clutched the blanket underneath him tightly in his hand, "This is _all_ Derek's fault." "Derek? I blame my brother for everything too, but I don't see how this is his fault-" "He ordered us to follow them. _That's_ how it's his fault." Isaac relaxed again and stared up at the ceiling. "He _ordered _it? Why?" "He wanted to keep an eye on the alpha pack now that the twins are in school too. He's worried they're going to try and get more for their pack."

Laura was now visibly angered, her eyes flashing between their normal brown and alpha red. "So Derek sent you two after them? He's the reason you were following the twins?" Before Isaac could answer she spoke again. "_He's_ the reason you're laying here with broken ribs and why Boyd is laying in there, almost dead." Laura stood, her hands balled into fists so tightly, Isaac thought she may cut herself with her claws. As Laura turned to leave, he grabbed her hand, "Wait," he slowly sat up as she tried to pull away, "Stay with me?" Laura stopped trying to leave, "Why?" Isaac rubbed his thumb across the top of her hand, "I just don't like being alone."

Laura sat back down beside him with a heavy sigh. "Why did you let my brother do this to you?" "He's my alpha, I-" "No, why did you let him turn you?"


	9. A Trophy Father's Trophy Son

Issac gave a heavy sigh and looked away from Laura as he released her hand. "It was just something I thought I needed at the time. That's all." Isaac started to turn over, but Laura grabbed his shoulder. "You made me stay, now talk." Isaac has never been entirely comfortable with talking about why he accepted the bite, but something about Laura made him feel safe enough to talk about it. "Isaac?"

"I guess, to really explain it all..I should tell you the _whole_ story. My dad," Isaac paused, "Well, see, he's not the _nicest_ guy. He's actually kind of a dick." Laura leaned back in her seat as she listened intently. "He wasn't always like that though. He used to be the best dad you could want. My family, it used to be me, my mom and dad, and my older brother; now it's just me and my dad." "What happened?"

Isaac seemed visibly uncomfortable with the subject and Laura felt bad for asking. "If you don't want to talk about it we don't have to," she reached out and gave Isaac's arm a slight squeeze. "No, it's okay," he sat up and faced Laura. "See, my mom, she got really sick, and she held on as long as she could, but she didn't make it." "I'm so sorry." "Thanks. It was pretty hard for us, but it kinda brought us closer together, my dad and my brother and I. Of course, it also put strain on him to raise 2 kids alone, he got a little more strict with stuff like our grades, but he wasn't too bad. When my brother was 18 he joined the military, dad was really proud of him for it, I was too. My brother ended up dying in combat though." _Wow, this poor kid._

_"_My brother dying was kind of the breaking point for my dad. He just couldn't be the happy guy I knew when I was little anymore. He started getting really mean. I always tried to please him, I knew how hard it was for him to deal with losing his wife and his son, I had lost them too, but dad had been with them more. That's when the drill sergeant in him kicked in. I couldn't get anything lower than a B in school, I _had_ to play lacrosse, I _had_ to do _everything_ around the house.. I couldn't be a kid anymore. I still remember the first time like it was yesterday.." Isaac trailed off. "First time for what?" "The first time he locked me in the freezer."

_What?_ Laura couldn't believe what she had just heard. "Wha-" "Just let me finish, I'll explain." Isaac sighed and crossed his legs in front of him on the couch. "Dad and I were down in the basement, he was working on our deep freezer and he was making me help. 'Hand me the 7/16th wrench.' I wasn't sure, I didn't know, I didn't know anything about tools or fixing things, I just picked up what I thought it was. 'What the hell? This is the 9/16th you moron.' It was an accident." Isaac looked like he was in a trance as he told Laura this story. His face was blank and he seemed to just be talking, not to her in particular, but just recalling the event. "You know what the difference between a seven and a nine is, dumb-ass?" "It's a stripped bolt," Isaac's voice cracked. "I didn't know, I said I was sorry, I didn't know, what did he want me to do? What do you want me to do? 'I want you to shut up.' He just kept yelling, he was so angry. 'I can't even keep it closed. Grab the chains.' What? 'Grab the chains. Get in.' I didn't understand. 'Are you not hearing me son? Get in the damn freezer. Get in!' It was so dark. I was so scared, I-" "Isaac?" He barely took the time to breathe as he spit the words out and Laura could hear his heartbeat rising furiously. "Isaac," she grabbed his hands and held them, breaking Isaac's blank stare. "I'm sorry, I-" "Are you okay?" "Yeah, yeah, it's just, hard to talk about without feeling scared again." Laura bit her lip, "Did it happen a lot?" Isaac dropped his head to look at their hands then shook it yes.

"Is that why you said yes to Derek?" "Derek has this habit of preying on the kids who feel pretty bad about themselves." Erica walked in and threw a bag of candy at Isaac. "Sorry to interrupt, but I heard you were hurt today." The girl's entrance made Laura let go of Isaac's hands and scramble to her feet. "It's okay," he said, "You can both stay." Laura scooted over on the table and Erica sat beside her. "But yeah, I don't know how he knew, but Derek came to me one night when I was working in the cemetery. He told me how it could make things better. He also told me about being hunted, but at the time, anything was better than my dad locking me in a freezer every night."

Isaac was looking at his hands again and Erica and Laura gave each other a concerned look. "I was happy at first. I loved it. I became good at lacrosse so I actually started to like it, I stopped feeling scared all the time, I was finally able to protect myself." Isaac looked up at the girls and smiled, "I also had a new family, one that I knew I could count on." "But then all this stuff with the alpha pack started happening. Derek's objectives changed. He stopped trying to protect everyone and instead started spying and trying to gain more power."

"Laura, can you come help us? Boyd's getting harder to hold down." Talia entered the room and smiled to Isaac and Erica. "Sure, thing." Laura stood up and turned to leave, then turned back to Isaac and gave him a kiss on his forehead. "You still have a family that cares about you, Isaac. Even if Derek doesn't." Laura left the room and Erica looked at Isaac, "That was cute," she smiled. "Shut up," Isaac laughed.

"Hey I-" Derek stopped and quickly backed out of the room as he saw Erica and Isaac together. The two seemed to have not noticed Derek walking in and honestly he'd prefer it that way; they looked pretty comfortable together and he couldn't deal with having _all_ of his pack angry with him at the same time. Erica and Isaac seemed to be getting along really well, considering, to Derek's knowledge, this was the first time they had met.

"So why were you and Laura talking about Derek turning you?" Erica tore open the bag of candy she had brought to Isaac and pulled a piece out. "We were just talking about stuff, nothing really." Isaac pulled a piece of the candy out and started chewing on it. Erica raised an eyebrow and slapped Isaac with her Twizzler, "Don't be so vague, Lahey." Isaac laughed, "She was just asking me why I let him do it." "Why _did_ you let him do it?" Derek stood outside the door and listened to Isaac tell Erica about his father and all the things he did. "Wow, that's awful, Isaac. I'm sorry-" "It's okay. It's better now. Not ideal, but better." This made Erica laugh. "Derek's not the ideal 'family man', is he?" Isaac laughed and shook his head no. "I'm thankful he saved me from my abusive father, but like I told Laura, I don't like what he's doing. He just doesn't care about us anymore. Well, he doesn't care about Boyd and I. You seem to be his main objective right now."

Though he hadn't meant for it to happen, those words came out with a bitterness to them, causing Erica to give an uneasy shift in posture and bite her lip. "He's good at that, you know? Saving people?" Isaac was glad Erica hadn't noticed his tone and asked her what she meant. "Did Derek tell you anything about me?" "No, but I kind of knew you. Well, I knew who you were." Erica seemed confused. Isaac sighed heavily, "I..saw the video." Erica's face turned bright red as she heard this, "Oh, I see." Erica stood to leave but Isaac quickly grabbed her and pulled her back down to her seat.

"I know you may not believe me, but I _never_ laughed about it, it was cruel." "What video?" Derek said confused and aloud to himself. "The one of her seizing." Cora Hale walked into the hall and stood next to him, peering into the next room and watching Isaac and Erica comfort each other. "You know, she's a good person, Derek. As long as you don't do to her what you did to Isaac and Boyd, she'll continue to be a good addition to your pack." Cora turned to leave, but paused and faced her brother again. "_And_ your life." Cora walked away, Derek took one last look at his betas and followed his sister back to Boyd, who was finally just resting after the day's horrible bone rebreaking.


	10. Set Your Goals

_**A/N: SO, as you may notice in possibly the previous, but most likely the upcoming chapters, there's some cheesiness going on, particularly with res halls being named and whatnot. I just felt it needed to be done. Thanks again to anyone who has taken the time to reach this point in my story!**_

"Again!" Derek's orders echoed throughout the empty train cars in the old subway where he now stood, training his pack and readying for battle. Issac came at him, leaping over tables, evading obstacles, and finally making his move on Derek after scaling a pole and attempting to drop down on him. Derek easily caught Issac's shoulder and slammed him into the concrete floor. "Agh.." Issac groaned as he rolled to his side and grimaced with pain, Derek standing over him clearly frustrated with the young wolf's attempts.

Boyd, who had been sitting on the nearby stairwell quickly leaped to his feet, almost digging into the ground, and taking off, full speed, towards the turned back of Derek Hale. _I got you now, Hale._ Just as Boyd was inches away from slamming into his back, Derek quickly turned and with a swift movement of his hand, pushed Boyd just hard enough for him to stumble over Issac's body which was still laid across the floor. "Is _anyone_ capable of-" Derek was quieted mid-sentence as Erica's foot swiftly made contact with his mouth, just as she dropped from the rafters, landing on Derek's back after he hit the floor. "You were saying?"

Boyd pulled Issac to his feet and gave Erica a high five. "That was awesome!" "It was _okay_," Derek said as he slowly pulled himself onto his feet. "Okay? Dude she knocked you down, you had no idea-" "_And _you're bleeding!" Boyd cut in as Issac was still congratulating Erica on the only successful attempt on Derek all day. "She got in a good hit, okay. But what's next? It would have just made me angry. Fully shifted, I could easily handle her, especially if her only backup is laying on the floor." Derek walked away from the betas and picked up his phone, "Keep going, I'll be back." As he walked up the stairs of the abandoned train station, Boyd sat back and watched as Issac and Erica began to spar.

"Help has arrived," Cora Hale bounced down the stairwell, followed by her uncle Peter and her sister Laura. "What are they doing here?" Boyd asked, quickly pulling his shirt back on, embarrassed by his weight and the sudden appearance of two girls. "You need help, more than I can give you right now." Derek stepped towards the group and started pulling them into pairs. "Alright, I want you guys to fight. And I mean _fight._ None of that soft stuff." "Uh, Derek.." Isaac looked at Derek then at the partner he was given, "I can't fight a girl." "Good thing it's not a girl," piped Cora from the other side of the room. Laura shot her sister a glare then turned to Issac, "I can handle myself." "She's got a point, Laura could probably take you..and Boyd, right now, _if_ she wanted to."

Boyd was insulted, but before he could offer any annoyance with his alpha's comments, Peter swept his leg behind Boyd's, knocking him backwards as he forcefully drove his fist into the young man's gut. "Never let your guard down, it makes it easy for that kind of thing to happen." Peter stepped towards Boyd, teasingly kicking his side, "Get up big boy, gotta learn to take a hit."

After a few hours of the paired sparring and Derek walking amongst the groups, "I'm starving, Derek we're done," Cora ordered as she sat down in one of the rail cars and began stuffing her face with food. "I swear that girl is like a garbage disposal. How did your mother ever manage to feed you all?" Peter asked as he sat by his nephew with a disgusted look on his face. Cora shot Peter a scowl and continued to shovel handfuls of chips into her mouth.

Laura crossed to the rail car and sat down with a bottle of water and flicked some at Derek. "You have some talent, brother." "Yeah, well, I've been doing this since we were kids, you know. Mom was a good teacher, I'm genetically gifted, I'm bound to-" "Pretty sure she was talking about your pack, Derek." Derek looked to Laura who nodded in approval at Peter's comment. "Oh." Cora stopped eating long enough to laugh at her brother before pulling out a sandwich from her bag and starting on it. "Does it ever stop?" Peter, still disgusted with his niece's eating, turned to face the betas who decided to keep fighting.

"The girl, what's her name?" "Erica," Cora said between bites of peanut butter and jelly. "Yes, her, she shows real promise Derek," Peter paused. "I'll have to keep my eye on that one." As the last word left Peter's mouth, Issac came flying into the rail car, leaving Boyd and Erica still attacking one another. Laura ran to Issac's side as Cora hopped up from the floor and joined her uncle. "She's a pretty good fighter. She busted Derek open earlier." "Oh, really?" Peter asked, turning to give Derek a disapproving look, "You let a girl take you out?" "Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't stand my ground. I bet I could take you." Erica helped a beaten Boyd get to his feet and joined Laura just outside the car who was still sitting with Isaac.

"Can we be done for the day? I have about 100 bones that need to heal." "I guess," Derek sighed. "I'm tired of watching you get your ass handed to you on a silver platter." Derek stood up and put on his jacket, "Hey, want a ride?" he nodded at Erica. "Sure, I'm tired from winning all day," she grinned at her friends' beaten bodies and chuckled to herself, remembering to take it easy next time. As the group scattered and went their separate ways, Erica and Derek got into his car and began their drive back to campus.

"You looked pretty good out there today, I'm impressed." "Oh, well I live to impress thy humble leader.." Erica trailed retorted as she watched the passing cars on the street. "No, really, I thought Boyd would be my best fighter, I mean look at the guy, he's gigantic-" "He's not gigantic." Erica's words came out bitter and tinged with anger, almost provoking an apology from Derek for something he doesn't even know that he did. "Sorry, that was a bit rude, wasn't it?" "No, no, not at all." Derek shifted gears and sped passed Boyd's car that he only just now realized was in front of him.

"Is that Cora?" Derek peered into the car, now behind him. "Watch out!" Erica grabbed the wheel and jerked it to miss swerving into the next lane and slamming into another car. "God, nice driving Dale." Derek shot a glare at Erica and turned his rear view mirror to see into Boyd's car. "It's.." "Laura? Yeah. Seems like Lahey has a thing for your sister. Pretty sure she likes him too. They're always together. It's kind of-" "Disgusting? Oh, I'm gonna.." Derek trailed off into a mutter Erica couldn't quite make out. "I was going to say cute but yeah, revolting is another emotion associated with their love affair."

"Not really a romantic, are you?" Erica shot Derek a condescending glare before answering, "I'm just not into the whole 'love' thing like everyone else. You must get that, I've _never_ seen you interested in anyone, and as far as Cora knows, you've never dated anyone-" "I've dated people." Derek stated defensively. _I've been into girls before. I'm into a girl _right now_. _"I've dated. My _little sister_ doesn't know my whole life." Erica raised her hands and shrugged, "I'm just saying what I've been told. Whatever, you date all the imaginary girls you want to, Derek."

"Where have you guys been all day?" Talia tiredly asked as her brother and her youngest daughter walked into the kitchen to join her. "Sorry mom," Cora kissed her mother on the cheek before heading to the refrigerator and began picking at the food. "Your child is a bottomless pit, Talia." Peter said, disgusted, as he sat at the counter and watched his sister peel potatoes for their dinner. "Oh, that's nice Peter, insult your niece." Peter shrugged, "Niece or not, she's going to be the size of a blimp one day." Cora turned away from the fridge and shot a nasty glare at her uncle before leaving the room. "Love you," Peter shouted after her.

"Really though, all my help left, where did you go?" Talia pulled a stool up to where she stood and faced her brother. "To the subway. Derek's pack started training today." "Enough said," Talia turned back to the potatoes as Peter laughed. "He's really got his hands full. The large one, Boyd, he's not doing nearly as much damage as we all thought he would. And Isaac.." Peter shook his head, "That boy needs more help than any of us could give him." Talia let out a small laugh as she stood and walked to the sink. "The girl though, Derek found a real winner with that one." "She has a _name, _Peter." "Yes, yes, Erica, I know. She has _real_ potential. She even took Derek out today. _I _can't even do that," Peter paused, "well, on my own.." Talia raised an eyebrow at her brother then turned back to the food. "I'm glad she's transitioning well. She was terrified of this life. It's good to hear things are going well."

"More than well," Laura said as she entered the kitchen and kissed her mom. "Derek's pack is looking _great_." "Great? Did we watch the same kids earlier? They were horrid." "It wasn't _that_ bad, Peter. Erica is _really_ great. I mean, that girl is gifted. I wouldn't be surprised if she challenged Derek for Alpha one day." "Can we not talk about someone murdering your brother for one day? Please? We were having such a good streak.." Talia returned to the counter with two bowls of vegetables. "Now that you're here, you can do something _productive_." She shoved the bowls into Peter and Laura's hands before giving them both smiles and turning back to the stove. "Speaking of which, where _is _your brother?"

"Well, here we are." Derek pulled up to the front of Wisteria Hall and turned off the engine. Wisteria was the only all female hall on campus. Like Derek had said, he actually _had_ been a little more than "interested" in a few girls, most of which were passing him by on their way in and out of the building, not attempting to hide their disgust and anger with him in the slightest. "Well Mr. Popular, I guess Cora _was_ wrong.." Erica grinned as Derek blushed and gave him a light punch in the arm. "Do I even _want_ to know why all these girls look like they want to rip your throat out with their teeth?" Erica raised an eyebrow. "Probably not." Derek started the car again as Erica grabbed her things and opened the door, "Thanks for the fun today, teach, we'll have to do it again sometime." Erica gave Derek a wink and turned to walk away, leaving her alpha staring just a little too long and a little too hard at her walking away.

Just as Derek pulled away from the hall, his phone started buzzing. "What?" "Wow, what a lovely greeting for your sister." Derek rolled his eyes, "Seriously, what?" "Mom's giving dinner orders and wants you to report for duty." "Ugh, god, Cora. Tell her I'm busy, tell her I'm not coming home right now," but just as the words left his mouth, Derek realized he was already driving down the long wooded path that lead to the Hale house. _Crap. _"I can hear your car from here, doubt that's gonna work. See ya inside bro." Cora ended the call just as Derek pulled up to the house. "This should be fun," Derek sighed as he got out of the car and walked up to the door, "Derek, welcome home."

Talia met her son at the door with a stack of plates and silverware, "Set the table. Dinner will be done soon." Before Derek could offer any resistance, she walked away and he reluctantly pulled off his shoes and entered the dining room, evading the small children running by and began setting the table.


	11. One-One Thousand

**A/N: There's a few things I would like to cover before you get going on this next chapter. First, all the chapters I have previously written are posted, so now there will actually be gaps in between when new chapters appear, I apologize dearly. Secondly, and I should have mentioned this before, Chapters 1-3, but specifically the atrocity that is Chapter 2, were just introductory chapters, trying to get as many characters as possible into the picture. Next, chapter titles, building names, and secondary characters (i.e. the reporter in this chapter) are all an homage to a band or the series' actors' real names. Finally, thank you to everyone who made it this far, it's really exciting for people to read about this weird AU I would be stoked to see.. You guys are all crazy awesome!**

_A house can be engulfed in flames and burning down to absolutely nothing within minutes. In less time than it takes for you to make your breakfast in the morning, an entire house, everything that means anything to someone, could burn to the ground. Their home, their things, all of it..gone. Someone's entire world could be turning upside down and yet, there you are, pouring yourself a bowl of Apple Jacks._

"We're on location here at Beacon Hills Forest Reserve where just moments ago a 911 call sent firetrucks from the surrounding counties to try and stop the monster blaze that has broken out in a family's home. While fire fighters frantically try to put out the blaze, paramedics are on scene treating the few members of the family who managed to escape through an upstairs window, just before the flames brought a rafter down blocking that exit. There's no report on fatalities at the moment, but we have been told there are still people trapped _inside _the structure. We'll keep you updated as the fiery battle continues. This is Melissa Ponzio, reporting for Channel 9 news."

"He's coming back!" As the man lay on the gurney, he began drifting back into consciousness. Everything was dark, it was silent and he had a throbbing pain in his legs; then he opened his eyes. First he was met with a bright, white light, slowly dimming and changing colors as he began to move his head and more shapes came into view. Then came the sound; distressed voices were blaring from the the intercoms he passed under, shouting codes and paging doctors. He tried to sit up but was strapped down. As he tried to rip free of the restraints, hands were pressed against his body, holding him down as more voices clouded his thoughts. "Derek?! Derek Hale! Can you hear me?" The man's voice was calm but somehow seemed nervous and rushed at the same time. "Derek, I need you to listen to me," another voice broke into Derek's head as his vision finally settled. "Son, can you tell me what happened?" Derek looked to the man who was speaking to him, not realizing it at first, but soon clicking that it was Sheriff Stilinski. "Can you hear me?" He turned to the doctor, "Can he hear me?" "I can hear you," Derek mumbled, barely loud enough to hear over the busy hospital background noise.

"What happened? I..I don't know." Derek raised his head to look around but felt a rush of nausea and pain and immediately laid it back down. "We were having dinner..everything was fine and then Cora-" Derek's eyes shot open. "Where's my sister?!" Derek extended his claws and slashed through one side of the bed's restraints. "Where is she?!" Sheriff Stilinski and his deputies immediately held Derek back down as the doctor took a needle out and injected a sedative into Derek's IV. "Look I'm sorry Sheriff but this will have to wait." The doctor ushered the policemen out of Derek's room as his vision began to blur and he slowly slipped back asleep.

"Here we are in Beacon Hills Forest Reserve, just 2 hours after the blazing house fire that spread into a small forest fire, has been extinguished. Now, there's no word on _who _or _what_ caused the fire here at the Hale home, but arson specialists have been called in. From what we've been told, there were 4 members of the Hale family who are in Intensive Care at Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. Sadly, there were a number of other people in the house when it caught fire, including friends of the family and 3 small children, who passed away from what has been determined smoke inhalation. Names of the deceased victims have not yet been released, as police are still contacting family. More on the condition of the 4 survivors coming to you at 5. This is Melissa Ponzio, Channel 9 news."

"Mom we have to see him!" Scott pleaded to his mother as he and Isaac followed her down the hallway and into an empty room in the hospital. "Scott," Melissa McCall shook her head, "I can't let you in. Sheriff Stilinski's men are posted at all the doors with orders to keep anyone who isn't hospital personnel out. There's noth-" "Mom, it's important, we have to see Derek, we can get past the guards, just keep them from coming in the room." "Scott-" "Mom, please, I wouldn't ask if it weren't important.." Melissa bit her lip as she looked tentatively between her son and Isaac. "You promise you won't do anything to cause trouble?" "Mom I swear." With a heavy sigh Melissa lead the boys out of the room and down the hall to Derek's room. "Hi, Deputy Parrish is it?" "Yes ma'am." "We need you to fill out some papers for a moment, would that be all right?" "Sure thing, miss." The deputy followed Melissa just a few feet down the hallway to the nurse's station while Scott and Isaac quickly entered Derek's room and locked the door.

"Derek, can you hear me?" "Dude he's half dead, of course he can't hear you." Scott approached the bed, "Derek," he shook the lump in the blankets, "Derek!" he half whispered-half screamed. "Oh no," just as Isaac's words escaped his lips, Scott felt his stomach dropped as he gripped the top of the blanket. Just as he began to pull the blanket down, preparing for the worst, "I can hear you just fine." The sudden voice scared Isaac and Scott, causing a small yelp to escape from both of their lips. "Shut up!" Derek picked the pillow up from the bed and slung it at his beta. "Do you wanna get caught in here?"

"Derek you're okay!" Isaac was relieved to see his alpha up and walking around, able to move fast enough to throw the pillow and strong enough to pry open the window. _Wait, what? _"How are you doing this? The news said you were in critical condition. Werewolf or not, jumping out of a second story window is gonna do some damage.." As Isaac stood by the bed questioning Derek's condition, Scott approached the door to the room and slowly pulled back the curtain, greeted by the back of someone's head. "Guys, the cop is back, keep your voices down.

Derek squinted angrily towards his beta. "It's a _window_, Isaac. Not a semi." Derek pulled on his leather jacket and slipped on his shoes as he positioned half of his body out of the window. "Well?" Scott and Isaac looked at each other then back to Derek. "Well what?" "Well are we gonna go talk or what?" "Derek you can't just leave the hospital!" "Watch me." Derek slid out of the windowsill and onto the ground below, pausing only a moment to ask, "So are you coming or what?"

Isaac looked out the window at his alpha, then back to Scott, then again to Derek before taking a few steps towards the window. "Isaac," "Dude, it'll be fine..he'll heal. He's a werewolf, remember?" Isaac hopped out the window to join Derek. "Why can't I just have a normal life for once?" Scott reluctantly climbed out of the window to follow Isaac and Derek.

"Hey, Derek," the three boys had been sitting in the woods in complete silence for quite some time now, Scott's voice the first sound of anything since they left the hospital. "Yeah?" "What...happened?" Derek sat in silence, he knew that one of them would ask him eventually, he knew everyone would ask, but he had hoped it wouldn't be this soon. "Derek?" Scott asked, his tone still calm, but tinged with an undertone of pleading. "I honestly don't know, Scott."

Derek shifted uneasily in his seat on the ground, crossing his legs and holding his head in his hands. "I don't know what happened." Scott was frustrated with Derek's answer but he knew not to press it. Isaac placed his hand on Derek's shoulder, giving it a slight squeeze before placing it back in his jacket pocket. Derek lightly scratched at his head, "I remember taking Erica back to school and then coming home."

"Cora called me right when I was pulling in to tell me about mom cooking, and then when I went in mom handed me some plates. All the little kids were-" Derek's words caught in his throat as he choked back tears. "Derek, this can wait-" Scott spoke up, realizing just how hard this was for him. Derek sighed, "The little kids were all playing in the basement. Mom called them up for dinner. We were all at the table eating and then Cora smelled fire. Mom got up to check and didn't see anything, but then just seconds later the fire came bursting through the floorboards in the kitchen."

Isaac's heartbeat began to rise, he didn't want Derek to finish because he already knew what happened. He already knew that no matter what police think happened or what Derek says happened, he knows that in the end, there's still an entire family slaughtered, including the girl of his dreams. "Everyone started freaking out, none of the doors would open..in seconds the fire seemed to just takeover the entire house.." Derek trailed off, pausing only to wipe the tears welling in his eyes. "I don't know how, but Cora and Peter got out of the room and disappeared. I didn't know where they went at first but I just focused on getting mom out. It was getting so hard to breathe, the whole room was black with smoke, it was so hot, the only person I could find was mom. We made it to the stairs and I could hear Cora calling for us. We got out the window and I tried to go back," Derek's jaw tensed as he sniffed away tears, "I tried to save them, but Peter pulled me away just as the ceiling caved in.." "Derek," Scott gave Derek's shoulder a squeeze, "There was nothing you could do-" "I should have tried harder, I should-" "Derek, it wasn't your fault," Isaac said quietly. Derek's fists were clenched so tight his nails were cutting into his skin, his knuckles were snow white, and his heartbeat was so fast Scott almost couldn't hear the individual beats.

Derek shot up from the ground, snarling with rage, taking off deeper into the woods. "Derek!" Scott and Isaac called for him but he kept running. The boys stood and followed him, finding it hard to keep up with the shifted wolf in front of them. Before they knew it, the three boys ended up at what was left of the Hale home, quickly ducking behind trees to hide from the police and fire investigators who were scavenging the scene for clues. Derek shifted back, slumping down to the ground with his head in his hands. The sight of his home burned almost completely to the ground sent him a wave of grief, washing over him, relinquishing any anger he had previously had and replacing it with the deepest sorrow imaginable for one man.

Isaac didn't know what to do; should he console his alpha or should he give him his space? Scott stepped towards Derek, leaning down, and began to tell him something. He spoke only loud enough for Derek to hear, leaving Isaac leaning against a nearby tree. As Isaac looked down at his feet, he noticed the ground surrounding the three wolves had been trampled by half a dozen different people. "Guys," Isaac half shouted, half whispered, "look at the ground. Look at all the footprints!"

Scott and Derek slowly stood looking at the ground and all of the shoe marks. "This place is a crime scene Isaac, do you know how many officers have gone through here?" Derek shrugged off Isaac and slumped back down to the ground, looking to one of the prints beside him. "Except policemen don't wear Nikes." Derek pointed to the very clear check mark logo dug into the middle of the shoe print. "_And_," Isaac added, "This is almost 20, maybe 25 feet away from where the police tape ends. No way any of them would be here." Derek quickly stood and followed the set of Nike footprints, Scott and Isaac close behind.

The prints lead the boys towards the back of the hale home. After letting a leaving officer pass by before approaching the window, Derek quickly scanned the ground, making sure the prints were the same. "Look!" Scott said as he stepped towards the house and began to rub his fingers along the edge of the shutters. "Something was screwed in here."


	12. Evidence of Things Unseen

**A/N: So, originally this was just one chapter and I thought for sure it would just never be done, but then I realized it had enough material for 2, so I just split it up. So I apologize for that abrupt change at the end. Please forgive me.**

"Hey there sunshine, how are you today?" Cora was greeted by the sight of her best friend entering the room with an armful of flowers, candies, and "A dog?" Erica shoved the stuffed animal into Cora's hands as she dropped everything else into the bed with the girl. "Shut up. It was the closest thing to a wolf I could find." Cora traced the ear of the dog with her fingertip silently. After a few moments, Erica leaned over the bed's railing and embraced Cora, giving her a tight hug, "Seriously, how are you doing?"

Erica drug a wooden chair to Cora's bedside, sitting down and holding one of the girl's hands with her own. Cora stared blankly into space for a moment before biting her lip. "Cora?" Erica's tone was soft, calming to Cora after hearing nothing but strange men's voices questioning her and nurses being so sweet she swore she slipped into a diabetic coma. She understood they were just trying to be nice and make her feel better, but all it did was make Cora feel irritated and want to leave.

"I'm as good as I can be under the circumstances." Cora looked up at her best friend, "Will you tell me what happened?" "I actually was going to ask you-" "No, I mean, will you tell me who lived and who didn't? They won't tell me anything because they're afraid it will do more damage than good to my health." "Well, maybe they're right, you know-" "I'm a werewolf, Erica. Remember? I'm practically completely healed, the doctors are pretty freaked out by it, but they're keeping me on lock-down because of my _mental health_.

Cora's eyes flashed a sense of what Erica understood as rage, but the sensation faded quickly, taking the mood back to a grim one. "I don't know if I should.." "Please? I need to know." Erica sighed, deeply conflicted with easing her best friend's worries but causing new ones at the same time. "If I tell you, you have to promise me you'll try to stay calm." "I promise." As Erica began to tell Cora what was left of the house and the zero leads the police have, Cora felt her heart sink as she was overwhelmed with a rush of sadness. "Four of you guys made it out.." Cora looked up, "Who else?"

"Peter, Derek, and your mom." Cora's heart started beating rapidly at the news of her mother's survival. "Peter and Talia are here in the hospital somewhere, but Derek escaped yesterday. No one's seen him since." Cora was relieved her brother made it too. Hell, she was even happy to hear Peter was okay, but this happiness was very short lived. "Wait, Laura? Where's Laura?" Cora's voice cracked as the last word left her mouth. Erica's head dropped as she told Cora her sister didn't make it. When she looked back up from their hands, Cora had began to cry, staring blankly at the wall again. Erica lifted Cora's hand to her face and held it to her cheek.

The sudden heat from the blonde's cheek woke Cora from her daze, "Thank you for being here." Cora smiled lightly,before pulling her hand free and getting up from the bed. "Well, I'm gonna take a shower, I still smell like smoke," Cora's face was grim as she spoke of the fire, "You're welcome to stay until I'm done though." Erica laughed, "Yes, because seeing my best friend naked is _exactly_ what I aspire to." Cora chuckled as she started to undress, "Uh, well, that's my cue. I'll call you okay?" Erica averted her eyes as she quickly stood up and walked to the door, "Hang in there, okay?" Cora smiled to herself as she entered the bathroom and turned on the water.

"What do you mean 'something was screwed in'?" Derek stepped towards the window and traced his fingers along the edge of the shutters, feeling the small holes that had recently been drilled into the wood. "Did you guys have something on your window?" Isaac asked as he looked around the bottom of the house, trying to find whatever was taken from the window. "No, nothing."

Derek made his way to each window on the first floor of the house, all of them having the same holes as the first. As he approached the last window and found the holes, Derek's rage reached its boiling point. "This was no accident." Derek's claws were beginning to extend as he spoke through gritted teeth. "I have to talk to Cora." Before Isaac or Scott could protest, Derek took off again, shooting through the woods faster than both of the beta wolves.

Scott and Isaac were trailing Derek, they could still see him through the trees but there was no catching him. In a short time they were back at the hospital, just as they were a few hours ago. "I'm going back inside my room, you two go through the front. I'll come get you when I find out where Cora is." Derek climbed back into his room and immediately stripped down, hiding his clothes and laying in the bed, just as the door opened.

"What do you _mean_ he's gone?!" Sheriff Stilinski burst into the room with two deputies close behind. Derek shot up from the bed, "What's going on?!" Derek's face was shocked and confused as he jerked the blanket up over his half naked body. "What are you doing in my room?!" "I..uh..I.." Sheriff Stilinski's face turned bright red as he turned to face his deputies. "Deputy Parrish said that you were no longer in the room, but clearly-" "_Clearly _I'm still in the room." Derek looked down, "and in my underwear. So if you kind officers would please leave me alone, that would be great," he said with a condescending smile on his face.

"Right, uh, sorry Derek." Sheriff Stilinski turned around and ushered his deputies out of the room, shutting the door just before he slapped Parrish in the back of the head and mumbled "Idiots.." Derek waited a few moments before approaching the door and seeing that Stilinski had relinquished the officers of their watch. Derek crossed back to the bed and pulled his jeans out from underneath as Scott and Isaac walked into the room.

"What are you two doing?" Derek rushed to shut the door and make sure no one saw the two boys enter his room. "Stiles' dad said we could come in now that you're awake," Isaac said with a confused look on his face. Derek's face flooded with relief as he put on a shirt and his shoes. "Okay, I heard some nurses talking. They spread us out in case whoever started the fire decided to come back. Peter and Cora are somewhere on the 3rd floor, my mom on the 5th. I need to find Cora first." Derek walked towards the door and motioned for the boys to follow.


	13. More Than A Feeling

"So tell me, what did you and Derek talk about on the way back to the room?" Cora laid back in the hospital bed, holding the phone in her left hand, the tv remote in the other. _"Oh, come on, is that _really _what you want to talk about right now?" _Erica's voice was soft and sounded tired, no, _exhausted_. For the past 3 days she's been back and forth between the hospital and school. As soon as morning class is done, she visits Talia, goes back to afternoon classes, visits Cora. Erica loves the Hales like they were blood, but all the running was wearing her out. She may be a werewolf, but she's also still just a teenage girl with her own problems to worry about. Erica tried to not think about it though. She didn't want to be selfish and cause a problem between her and Cora.

"Erica?" Cora's voice rang in her ears, snapping her out of her daze. _"What?"_ "I said I don't want to think about everything else right now. SO, spill!" Erica smiled and rolled her eyes, _"We just..talked. I don't know. We were talking about him and dating." _"You're not into my brother are you?" Cora's accusation caught her off guard and Erica began to stammer. When the words _"Of course not,"_ finally came out of her mouth, Cora had already began to laugh hysterically. "Oh wow, convincing Erica. Really." Erica gave a small, frustrated grunt, "I swear. I'm not into _him_." Erica cursed herself the moment the words left her lips. "Oh, really.. Not into _him_ you say. Alright, who then?" Cora asked, clearly enjoying this too much. _"No one, I don't even know anyone enough to like them. So..no one." _Cora chuckled, "Well, you know Derek," Erica rolled her eyes, "you know Peter," it took everything in Erica to not gag at the notion she was _interested_ in Peter_. "No, no one." _"Oh I find that hard to believe." Cora thought for a moment, "You also know Laura and I," _"Uh, what?" _

The thought of being into Cora was almost more repulsing than Peter. Not because Cora was disgusting or anything, Cora was beautiful and smart and knew what she was doing with her life, but she was also the closest thing to a sister Erica had ever had. "I'm not being serious you idiot. That'd be so weird!" Cora laughed, "Seriously though, you had that emphasis for a reason. Have you at least seen someone you find _attractive_?" _"Well, there was-"_ before Erica could answer, "Cora!" Derek burst into his sister's room, followed by Scott and Isaac. "Derek, oh my god!" Cora leaped from the bed to embrace her brother. "I can't believe it...Erica..she said no one's seen you. Where have you been?" Cora pulled Derek tight again, not wanting to let go.

"Here, I've been here, just on a different floor. They wouldn't let anyone see me, that's why she thought I was gone. Cora, are you okay?" Derek held back his sister as he assessed her body, searching for any sign of a burn. "Have you talked to mom?" Derek asked as he walked his sister back to her bed and sat down. "No, but Erica has gone to see her everyday-" "Erica? How, they wouldn't let anyone in my room?" Cora let out a small laugh. "Derek, think about it, do you really think all of Stilinski's young, _male_ deputies could say no to her?" Derek was confused at first, then remembered how well Erica's body took the bite.

"Wait, do you hear that?" Isaac stepped forward, turning his head side to side, listening for the faint voice her thought he heard. "Hear what?" Derek stood, claws at the ready. "Someone's calling for Cora, I just keep hearing her name.." He stepped closer to Derek and Cora, "It...sounds like Erica.." "Is she hurt?!" Scott shot up from the chair he was once sitting in. "Hurt? No, she can't be," Cora shook her head. "I was just on the pho-" Cora jumped up from the bed and yanked the blankets this way and that until she found the phone. "Erica? Erica!" _"Cora what the _hell_ is going on? Who are you talking to?" _"Wow, I am so sorry Erica," Cora tried to contain her laughter. "Sorry, look, Derek just." _"Wait Derek's there?!" _"Yes, he came in with Isaac and Scott, I'll call you back later okay?" _"Wait, Cora-" _"Later, I promise!" Cora hung up the phone and sat it on the table. "Are the voices gone now Isaac?" Cora said with a smile.

"Listen, Cora, I know..you probably don't want to talk about it, I don't either, but we went back to the house." The smile that had been plastered on Cora's face for over an hour now instantly faded. "Derek," "Wait, just listen. We went back. We found footprints and-" "And those led us up to the house, to the windows, there was-" Isaac stopped speaking as he felt glaring eyes on him, turning to Derek, "Sorry.." Derek rolled his eyes. "Anyways, we found empty screw holes outside of every window." Cora's face showed confusion, "What does that mean?" she asked. "I'm not sure, but I have an idea. Now listen, this is extremely important, the night of the fire, when you and Peter were trying to escape, did either of you try to get out of one of the windows on the first floor?"

"I did." Peter Hale stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. "I even tried the front door," he shook his head, "nothing. It wouldn't budge." Peter crossed the room and looked at Scott, raising an eyebrow he motioned for the boy to get out of his seat. Scott stood and walked towards the counter, sitting on top of it as Peter sat down in his chair. "That's why I took Cora upstairs. I figured they would have thought the fire would spread fast enough to keep anyone from leaving downstairs." Derek cocked his head to the side a bit, "What do you mean _they_?" Peter sighed, "The hunters."

"Look, Stilinski's willing to let us go to other rooms, but he is _not_ going to let us leave the hospital." Peter said, pulling on a boot and walking to look out the door's window to the officer sitting down the hall, half asleep. "Then again," he sighed, "theses _boys_ he has watching us aren't exactly the cream of the crop, I suppose we _can_ just walk out." "No," Cora emerged from the bathroom and threw her hospital gown on the bed. "We need to be careful. How do we get out of here?" she turned to her brother. "Well, there's the window?" Isaac offered. "The window?" Peter repeated, "We almost died from a 2 story drop, do you really think we could survive one from 3?" Peter squinted at the beta, amazed that Derek chose such an imbecile as part of his pack.

Isaac dropped his head and curled back into himself on the floor where he sat. "No, no window.." he paused for a moment. "We'll just go down the stairwell. If we can get downstairs to the basement, then we can use the morgue entrance to leave from." Derek and Cora were the first ones to leave the room, making their way to the far hallway, then motioning for the rest to follow them down and out of the building.

As the group made their way through the forest, Isaac caught something. "Wait." They all stopped, "What is it?" Derek asked. "Do you guys smell that?" Isaac asked. Peter sniffed the air surrounding them, "What do you feel?" He turned to Scott. "Uh.." Peter rolled his eyes, "Anger, Scott. Someone with _a lot_ of rage was just here." "What kind of rage?" Cora asked. "The kind you get from a failed assassination attempt?" Isaac held up a small, leather string with a silver pendant on it. "What is that?" Scott asked. Peter took the broken necklace from Isaac and held the pendant up to his eyes, "I'm not sure." Peter shoved the pendant deep into his pocket and began making his way though the woods and back to what was left of his home.


	14. We Will Never Be the Same

**A/N: I dug myself into a really deep hole and I had NO clue how to get out of it. So this is literally nothing but filler and I apologize for the quality..for pretty much most of the chapters' quality.. The main reasons I wanted to do this fic, my ****_main_**** ideas, they're ****_finally_**** about to happen, so next chapter will be [hopefully] a good one! It's something I've been looking forward to writing and I'm stoked to finally be there. ALSO, super huge thank you and shout out to the awesome for yvette. for following, you are super rad, my friend. **

"Mom!" Cora raced down the hallway and embraced her mother. "Cora, oh I've missed you so much." Talia squeezed her daughter tightly before noticing her son and brother had entered the room. "Derek," Talia released Cora and made her way to her son, both of their eyes filling with tears. "How are you doing?" Talia let go of Derek and walked back to the hospital bed to sit beside Cora. "What, don't I get a warm embrace?" Peter asked from his seat in the corner of the room. "Do you _really_ want it, Peter?" He started to open his mouth, then abruptly shut it while shaking his head no. "Exactly."

"Do you know anything about what happened? I've been trying to listen to staff or passing officers, but it seems no one with much of anything comes up here." Talia reached her hand out and began stroking Cora's hair. "Derek and I went back-" "Derek, _Cora_, and I went back," Cora corrected. Peter shot his niece a glare, "Right. Derek, _Cora_, and I went back with that Scott McCall boy and Derek's beta. We found something quite intriguing." "When was this?" Talia asked, letting go of Cora and standing up. "Oh, I'd say about 2 weeks ago. We-" Talia cut in, "2 weeks? It doesn't seem like it's been that long.. Have we really been in here for 2 weeks?"

"Yeah, anyways, it seems as if someone had barricaded the first floor doors and windows. Stilinski's father is working on a _lead_, but you know how that fool works. It will be years before they get anywhere." Peter glanced around the room and noticed the packed bag at the end of the bed. "Where are you going?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "Well, we've been released," "_Finally.._" Derek cut in, "from the hospital. Derek and Cora have rooms on campus. You and I don't have anything anymore," she looked at Peter with a saddened expression. "Erica helped me find a loft, it's pretty bare, but it will do. I figured we would go today."

"Get out of this awful hospital? Thank god. When do we leave?" Peter stood. "Uh, I guess whenever you would like to?" "Now, let's go now." "Okay then. Derek, would you grab my bag for me?" Derek picked up the bag and Talia made her way to the door, followed closely by Cora and Peter. Derek stood in the empty room for a moment, looking around him at the hospital appliances, then heading towards the door. "Hey, I see you're all feeling better!" Melissa McCall made her way down the hall to the nurses station where the Hale family stood. "We've been better since the day of the fire, Melissa." Talia scowled at her brother, "Don't be so rude Peter. She's only being nice." _And this is my son's alpha? Wonderful. Grade-A Jackass._

"We're leaving today, is there anything we need to do?" "Uh, just some paperwork." Melissa grabbed a stack of papers and began to hand them out. "For Derek," he smiled at her, "And..Peter," who rolled his eyes, "And Momma Hale. I also need you to do Cora's since she's still a minor." Melissa smiled to the two girls before walking away and into another room. "Great," Peter sighed. "Do you ever shut up?" Derek asked his uncle. "Talia, aren't you going to say anything?" "You're right. Peter, shut up." Talia looked back down to the stack of papers in her hands as Derek and Cora laughed at their uncle's expense. "Really feel the love, guys.."

"Oh come _on_ Isaac, they're gonna be here any minute. Would you please just do _something._" "Hey, I _am _doing something." "Eating all the food I bought is _counter_productive. Seriously. Go get the rest of the bags from the car." Erica turned away from the make-shift kitchen table and headed towards the stairs, "Isaac!" she growled, surprising Isaac and causing him to drop his drink. "Now you can get the bags _and_ clean the floor." Erica walked away and up the stairs, leaving Isaac and Boyd together. "Dude, did you hear that?" Boyd pulled a headphone out. _Oh, I guess not.. _"Yeah, I definitely heard that." The loft door slid open, greeting Isaac and Boyd with the remaining members of the Hale family. "_We _heard it too," said Peter as he stepped into the loft. "Was that the blonde?"

"Peter, I have a name." Erica walked down the stairwell scowling at the man, then Isaac as she saw his mess was still not cleaned up. Her face was threatening and Isaac felt compelled to immediately clean up or risk getting his head torn off. _I don't know what's going on with her but she is terrifying lately._ Talia finally made her way over to the beta standing by the stairs, "Erica you didn't have to do all this." She hugged the young girl before shooting Boyd and Isaac each a smile. "I just wanted to do a little extra for you. Your family has helped me so much already, I just wanted to try and repay some of it." Erica looked to Derek and Cora as she said this, smiling warmly. "Why don't I show you all around?" Erica lead the family up the stairs while Isaac and Boyd stayed behind, still trying to scrape the floor clean of Isaac's chocolate milk.

"Well, I guess that's it then," Erica said as she made her way down the last few steps to the bottom floor of the loft. "I really wish I could stay, but I have a midterm tomorrow for Deaton's class and I have _no_ clue how I'm going to pass it," shaking her head, she picked up her jacket from the couch. "We bought food and tried our best to get clothes to fit you," she turned to Peter, "I figured we would just let you find your own since you wouldn't like anything we picked out." Peter scowled at the beta who simply smiled and turned back to Talia. "I'm really glad you're all okay." Erica turned to leave, "Wait!" Cora shouted. "Mom, are you and Peter going to be okay?" "I'll be here," Derek shouted from the other side of the room. "I'm going to go then, I miss school." Talia laughed, "Since when-" "Bye mom!" Cora skipped to Erica's side, "Let's go." The girls opened the loft door, followed by Boyd and Isaac who both said their goodbyes. "Well, this is quaint," Peter said, looking mildly disgusted at a wet stain on the kitchen floor. "What the hell is _that_?"

Erica, Cora, and Isaac all piled into Boyd's van and began their trip back to campus. "So, Erica," Boyd said breaking the silence in the car, "That was a pretty intense growl back there. What, uh, what was up with that?" "Yeah, what was up with that?" Isaac asked, turning around in his seat to face the two girls in the back. "I don't know, you just wouldn't listen to me." Erica shrugged it off and went back to scrolling on her phone. "What happened?" Cora asked, leaning up towards the front. "I made Isaac my bitch today." Erica chuckled at the thought of Isaac cowering over his spilled milk because of her. "You did not. I just didn't want to start a fight and hurt you." Isaac turned back around, trying to hide his embarrassment and bright red cheeks.

Boyd laughed as Isaac turned away. "Isaac was being lazy, Erica just made him do stuff. That's all." "With a growl?" "Yeah, it was pretty loud. Well, you know that, you heard it." "Yeah," Cora bit her lip, "I did." As she leaned back in her seat, Boyd turned up the radio and let the music blare through the car as they drove through town. _I did hear it. Isaac looked terrified. It was almost like an alpha growl._ Cora pushed the thought out of her head and closed her eyes, resting her head on the back of her seat.


	15. Party Foul

**A/N: This is one of the chapters I've been extremely stoked about doing, I know it was posted super fast, but honestly I spent a lot of time on this and I think it turned out pretty alright. I also want to give a little shout out to . for leaving me that review, you're super rad! Feedback is welcome from anyone! Or if you have like, questions or something, hit me up. Happy reading!**

"It's been three weeks since the horrible house fire that has devastated a family, and a community. Police are still searching for leads on what caused it, though it has been determined arson. If you have any information, please call CrimeStoppers at the number appearing at the bottom of your screen right now. We'll keep you updated as the investigation continues. Melissa Ponzio, Channel 9 News."

"Please tell me that's not Kesha you're singing.." Erica entered her room to find Cora singing and throwing clothes on both girls' beds. "Is there a reason you're trashing my room?" She sat her bag down and cleared a small spot on her bed to sit in. "_Our_ room.." Cora snarked, "and I'm just looking for something to wear tonight." "You're going somewhere?" "_We're_ going somewhere!" Cora smiled as she pulled out a flier from her back pocket. "Haus of Mahealani?" Cora rolled her eyes. "It's a glow party!" "No. Absolutely not," Erica rapidly shook her head no. "Oh come on!" Cora pleaded. "I don't think so. Parties aren't my thing." Erica shrugged. "No, parties weren't the _old_ Erica's thing. _New_ Erica _loves_ going to new places and wouldn't _dare_ leave her best friend alone on a Friday night." "Cora.." Cora gave Erica the most pitiful look she could muster on the spot, "Oh my god, okay," Cora grinned from ear to ear, "I'll go." "Great! Now, what," Cora began digging through the pile of clothes on her bed, "are you gonna wear?"

"So..Allison.." Lydia sat down across from her roommate who had her nose buried in a textbook. "I'm busy," she said not looking up from her book. Her tone was more harsh than she had intended and she hoped, like normal, Lydia was too involved in her own agenda to notice. Allison placed the book on the table and picked up her sandwich, "Yes, Lydia?" Lydia stopped powdering her face and smiled, "You're going out tonight." "Uh, to where?" "Danny's place," Stiles walked up to the table, closely followed by Scott, who Allison shared an awkward smile with. "He's having a glow party and we're all going." Lydia pulled out a flier and shoved it onto Allison's textbook. "What are you even reading right now?" She picked up the book, only to put it down seconds later after glancing at the title. "Coach's class is killing me. 'Risk vs. Reward'.. It's so," "Stupid?" Scott cut in. "Exactly, stupid." Allison took a bite of her food and thought for a moment, "How many of.." she nodded towards Stiles and Scott, "_them_ will be there?" "Probably a lot, I mean, Danny's pretty popular, so.." Allison sighed, "Well, I don't have anything better to do, might as well spend my night in the dog pound.." she winked at Scott and Stiles, hoping they would laugh at her comment. Lydia put the flier back in her purse, "So it's settled. Now, about your wardrobe.."

"What have I gotten myself into.." Allison mumbled as Lydia pushed open the door to Danny's mini mansion of a house. Music was blaring, drunk kids were everywhere, and she wasn't able to look in any direction without seeing some girl _or_ guy without a tongue down their throat. "Hey!" A drunken Danny shouted as he made his way over to Allison, Scott, Stiles, and Lydia. "I'm _so_ glad you could make it!" Danny squeezed them all tight in a group hug before a familiar face pulled him away. "Gotta go! Hey, make sure you guys get painted!" Danny and the boy walked away holding hands, Allison wasn't sure, but she thought the boy had been glaring at them all. "Do we know him?" she shouted in Scott's ear. "That's Ethan, one of Deucalion's pack." Lydia grabbed Stiles' tie, "Let's dance," and pulled him away leaving Scott and Allison alone in the back of the party.

"Who's Deucalion?" Allison was confused, she knew she had heard the names before but she couldn't figure out where from. "Well, for one, he's a professor at school." Allison motioned "Oh" with her lips just as Scott started speaking again. "Ethan and his twin brother Aiden were the ones that jumped on Isaac and Boyd. You know, that one time you came to Derek's house?" "Oh, uh.." _What did Stiles call them?! _"Voltron wolf!" she shouted. Scott laughed, "Exactly." The two stood, silence between them, for a few minutes just taking in their surroundings when Scott spoke, "Do you want something to drink?" "Uh, yeah, sure. Why not?" Scott smiled, "I'll be right back." As Scott walked away, Allison took a seat in a chair by the pool.

As the time passed, Allison began to feel like someone was watching her, but no matter where she looked, she couldn't find out who it was. Scott eventually made his way back to her with drinks and sat down beside her. "Are you having fun?" he asked with the hint of a smile creeping across his lips. "Uh, yeah, yeah. I'm just not really-" Allison was cut off as a fellow party goer was tossed into the pool by a couple of guys. She knew one of them as Derek, and one looked exactly like Ethan, only she could have sworn he was wearing a blue v-neck instead of an orange hoodie. _Twins, duh. That must be Aiden._ "I'm not much of a party fan," she said laughing lightly at the boy in the pool, now high-fiving everyone else in it with him. "Yeah, yeah me either," Scott shook his head, then taking a sip of his drink and deciding that, whatever it was, it was too strong for his liking.

Allison saw his sour face and started laughing as she took another drink herself. "It's really not that bad, Scott." "I'm not really much of-" "No! No! Stop! I can't swim! Please!" Derek, Aiden, and another one of Scott's friends were carrying a flailing, scrawny boy towards the water. As they got near the edge, the boy kicked into the table and spilled the red drink all over Allison's white top. Derek and the other guys tossed the boy into the pool, laughing hysterically like everyone else who could see what was happening. The boy was screaming, gasping for air, then disappeared under the water. Scott dove in to save him, but Allison wasn't paying attention anymore. Allison took off and ran towards the gate leading to the front yard on the side of the house. She stopped just as she got to the gate, with her back against the wall, she slid down to the ground, tucking her head between her knees and started to cry.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Argent," a female voice broke Allison from her daze, "and alone, too, I see." "Kali," Allison quickly rose to her feet, wiping her eyes as Ethan _or is it Aiden?_ made his way to the two girls. "Don't you know it's dangerous to be a hunter in a wolf den?" Before Allison could react, Kali's foot made contact with her face, knocking her back to the ground. "Well get up, Argent. Prove to us that you're deserving of your wretched family name." Allison quickly retrieved a Chinese Ring Dagger from her bag and readied herself. Kali and Ethan both began to laugh, "Is that supposed to protect you?" Ethan said through a fit of laughter. Kali charged at the girl, Allison swiftly moved the dagger towards Kali's torso, just missing as the girl flipped over Allison's body and ended up behind her, sweeping her off her feet, causing Allison to release the dagger.

"You should have stayed home with daddy," Kali snarled. Ethan looked on as Kali brutally attacked the now defenseless young hunter. Kali stood back to admire her work, Ethan looking on from the distance, watching for anyone to interrupt. As Ethan smirked at the crumbled mass that was Allison's body, something hit him from behind, causing him to black out, disappearing just as quickly as it came. Kali backed towards the house, searching the yard for the assailant, all the while Allison lay on the ground whimpering. Kali heard footsteps above her, turning to look, she _just_ managed to dodge a black boot to the face. "_You.._" Kali said through gritted teeth. "Oh, I've been waiting for this." Kali charged at the girl, who side stepped and stepped into the wall, then pushing off she landed her foot into the back of Kali's head. Ethan finally began to stir on the ground, groaning in pain, slowly pushing himself up. "Sweetie, let the big kids play," the girl swiftly kicked Ethan in the gut, sending him back down to the ground.

Scott brought the boy back to the surface and, with the help of Danny and Stiles, pulled him out of the pool and laid him on the ground. "It's Matt," Danny said, as he leaned down to see if the boy was breathing. "I don't think he's breathing! Oh man," Danny tilted the boy's head and blew into his mouth before pumping away at his chest. After a few minutes of breathing and pushing, Matt's body finally pushed out all of the water that was previously in his lungs. A crowd had now formed around the scene, including the three men that had thrown him into the pool. Scott stood, fists clenched, glaring at Derek, Aiden, and Jackson. "You could have killed him!" "He's fine," Aiden shot back. "Now! He wasn't before. You could have seriously hurt him." Matt was finally conscious and to his feet, glaring at the boys as well. Matt pushed away everyone who had been trying to help him and started to leave. As he got outside and started to unlock his car, he felt hands on his shoulders, pinning him against his car. "Keep Aiden's name out of this." The voice said, not releasing its vice grip on Matt's tiny body. "Let go!" he shouted. "Keep Aiden's name out of this," the voice repeated, it was a low, calm tone, but somehow still sounded threatening, scaring Matt a little more than he would ever admit to. The hands finally released him and as he turned around, all he could see was a very large outline of a man, walking away and back into the house.

Allison finally had the strength to look up and see what was happening. "Erica?" she whispered to herself. Kali rose from the ground, flashing her red eyes, snarling, and charging at a waiting Erica. The two fought, evenly matched, as Allison slowly tried to crawl back to the party where people could see her, only to be stopped by Aiden. "What the hell?" Ennis soon joined Aiden, just in time to see Kali and Erica fighting. Aiden helped Ethan up, who then explained what happened. Aiden's claws came out as he growled, just loud enough for Scott and Stiles to hear over the music. "Dude, what was that?" Stiles asked as he, Scott, and Lydia started looking around themselves for the source. "Hey, where's Allison?" Lydia asked, just now noticing she was nowhere in sight.

Scott closed his eyes, tuning out the music and his classmates, trying to find Allison's voice, in turn hearing her cries. "There!" he shouted as he ran towards where Ennis, Ethan, and Aiden stood, closely followed by Lydia and Stiles. Erica and Kali were separated only for a moment, "You should have just stayed out of this. It doesn't concern you," Kali said, as she inched towards Erica. The blond charged at her, but Kali grabbed her shoulders and used the momentum to flip herself over the girl, grab her head, and snap her body backwards as she landed. "I can do that too," Kali smiled. Erica fell to the ground. _Oh no, oh god no. _Allison began to panic. Why did Erica try to save her? She didn't want her to, she didn't ask her to, they weren't even friends. _Get up Erica, _getup_. _Allison tried to push herself up and crawl to Erica, but every movement caused her immense pain, and eventually she passed out.

Allison awoke a few moments later to the sight of Stiles and Scott fighting off Ennis and Aiden, somewhat being helped by Ethan who was keeping Kali from Allison. "Allison," she heard her name but she couldn't bring herself to speak. "Allison!" Lydia shouted, soon joined by Scott, no sign of the alphas anywhere. Allison tried to speak, tried to get her friends to notice the lifeless body of the blond wolf across the yard, but couldn't find the words. "Come on, we gotta get her to the car!" Scott picked Allison up and ran through the crowded party, Stiles and Lydia pushing them out of the way the best they could. When they finally got to Stiles' jeep, Allison could speak. "Wait," "Allison we can't wait, we have to get you to a doctor. Stiles put the key in the ignition and turned it, waiting for the car to start. "Stiles!" Scott shouted, "I'm sorry! I'm trying." He kept turning the key, but nothing happened. "No, Scott," "What, what is it?" he leaned down and put his ear to Allison's mouth. "Erica, she was there, you have to help her." "Erica? Where was Erica? At the party?" Allison nodded her head, "She tried to help me." The engine roared to life and Stiles peeled out of the driveway. "Agh, Stiles wait." "Wait?! Why wait?" he slammed on the brakes and Scott shot out of the car and back to the scene of the fight. After a few minutes passed, he was back in the jeep and they were on their way to the hospital, "Allison, there was no one there. Are you sure it was Erica you saw?"


	16. Letters and Love Notes

**A/N: After reading some other various fics, I feel like I should just inform everyone there will be NO smut whatsoever, nothing even close. Personally, reading that is just way too weird, there would be no way I could write it, plus I have no desire to write it. Next, I apologize for how incredibly long it has taken me to get this out, I've been on a Twilight kick lately and Teen Wolf had been put aside..but I'm back! Happy reading!**

"What were you thinking?" Derek growled as he helped his sister put Erica into the back of his car. "I was _thinking_ that I would keep an innocent human from being ripped apart by a bitchwolf." "Innocent?" Derek scoffed, "She's an _Argent_, Erica. There's nothing _innocent_ about her." Erica rolled her eyes and grimaced with pain as she propped herself up in the backseat. "Stop acting like she did something wrong, Derek." Cora snapped at her brother. "Are you okay?" she asked as she turned to face Erica. "I'll be fine, I'm already healing." "Yeah, but how long is it going to take for you to walk again, to be completely healed? Alpha wounds take a long time. Not to mention, she pretty much _snapped_ your back, Erica. I'm surprised you're not dead."

Derek's words were cold and unpitying, hurtful to Erica, but only for a moment. "What was I _supposed_ to do, Derek? Let her die? Kali would have killed-" Erica was beginning to get her strength back and she sat up. "It doesn't matter, it's none of your business," Derek snapped. "Just like how what _I_ do is none of _your_ business?" Erica snapped back. "I'm not as cold as you, Derek. I actually _care_ if people get hurt." Derek's grip tightened on the wheel as Erica spoke, his knuckles turning white. "Derek," Erica's tone was softer now, "the bite can be a blessing or a curse, you've said it yourself. We're incredibly fast, we're strong..we _have_ the ability to to do something good in the world, why shouldn't we?" Derek began to reply but was cute short, "because she's a hunter? It doesn't matter. She's still a _person_, Derek. She doesn't deserve to die just because of her name."

Erica leaned back in her seat, feeling accomplished at having shut Derek up for once. Every word she said was true, if she had the ability to save people, she had to, she _needed_ to. She was saved, now she has to return the favor. Not necessarily to Derek, sure, she could hold her own with him, but Derek seemed to be able to take care of himself. He was nothing like Allison, so small, fragile..so helpless. Kali would have torn her to shreds, _I couldn't just stand by_. They sat in silence as Derek drove back to campus, dropping the two girls off at Wisteria, then making his way back to Guardian Hall, _ironic enough really, Derek, living in Guardian, the same name of that which he tries to convince everyone he is, but in reality, he's only looking out for himself. _Erica walked down the hallway towards the elevator and pushed the button for 8, Cora staying behind to catch up with a classmate. "Medicinal Herpetology just sounds made up. Besides, I'm not going to be an emissary, I'm already a wolf, why do I need to know this crap? That's what Lydia is going to be for." Erica never understood how her roommate took the classes as if they meant nothing, like they were a waste of her precious time.

Erica loved class. Even when she was human, she loved school. She hated everyone laughing at her expense, but she loved learning. Erica appreciated it more than most students, she understood that broadening one's intelligence is a privilege and that there were people in third world countries who would love to be in her position. Now that Erica's peer experience had improved immensely, she found it easier than ever to focus on the learning itself. Druids, finding out the stories she had heard as a child were actually true, understanding more about her own species, it was an exciting experience for her. Even though Cora was born into it and Erica was new, she couldn't understand how anyone could brush it all off so easily. To be honest though, right now, she was glad her roommate was like that, needing to catch up with someone about homework, it gave her a chance to be alone, which was a rarity these days.

_And I'm tearin' down the walls I've made to try and keep girls like you away. But still you'll find your way right back into my heart. _Erica put in her headphones and laid down on her bed, still aching from the fight with Kali. "Next," she said to herself as she skipped the song and waited for the next one to play. _Here I stand, nothing more than a broken man. Staring death in the face, all my mistakes have got a hold on me again. _As the music played, Erica laid on the bed, poking at different parts of her body, choosing to find out what hurt and what didn't _thehard way. _"Stupid Allison.." she mumbled. Poking a dark spot on her forearm, she winced. "Stupid Kali.." she squinted with frustration, "Stupid Kali who hates stupid Allison for being a stupid Argent.." _Will someone just tell me which way to go? I need a saint, I need a miracle. _"Next," Erica skipped the song again. "Stupid Derek," she paused, "just because I try to do the right thing, he thinks that makes it okay to jump all over me? Why? Because he's my _alpha_?" Erica continued to lay in the dark, mumbling to herself, listening to music, not even slightly noticing Cora entering the room. "It's not like I just came to the rescue because someone was in trouble. I was already there..I just wanted to talk-" Erica's sentence was cut short as Cora ripped a headphone out of her ear, "Talk to who?" she asked as she bounced to her side of the room, laying a stack of papers on her desk.

"What? No one." Erica laid back down, cursing herself for thinking out loud. "I'm so sure," Cora scoffed. "I'm too tired to fight with you," _Oh, really? Did you fight with an alpha wolf who ended up snapping your spinal cord in half tonight? No? Exactly. _"So, feel like talking tomorrow, I wanna know," Cora began to yawn, "_every_thing." Moments later the girl was asleep, snoring lightly on the other side of the room. _You've got secrets, yeah. And I've got a weakness- _Erica jerked out the other headphone and dropped her iPod to the floor, "Fuck it."

"Dude he was pissed." Stiles ripped open a bag of chips and started shoveling handfuls into his mouth. "Screaming about saving a hunter and stuff, being a sourwolf as usual. Not taking the time to acknowledge that she actually saved someone's life or anything." Scott's expression was blank, he was staring into space, seemingly not paying attention to a word his best friend was saying. "Dude?" nothing, "DUDE," Stiles dropped the chips, "SCOTT!" "Huh? Oh, wait so how do you know this?" Scott picked up a sandwich and took a small bite, looking around the room for no one in particular. "Cora told me. She was actually pretty pissed herself," "At Erica?" "Nah, well," he paused, "both of 'em, really. Erica for defending an Argent, Derek for being an asshole. She needed to vent and I was her only available option."

"She doesn't _have_ to put up with that kind of thing," Scott said, just before Lydia, Allison, and Isaac sat down too. "Hey," Stiles kissed Lydia on the cheek before continuing to devour his food. "She can meet other people." "Who can meet other people?" Allison asked, poking her fork into her meatloaf, swearing she saw it wince in pain. "Erica," Stiles said with a mouthful. "Have you seen her?" Allison asked a bit to anxiously for her liking. "I mean, you know, is she okay? She looked pretty hurt." Allison timidly looked down and started picking at her nails. Lydia rolled her eyes, "Apparently Derek has scorned her for saving an Argent's life." "Are you serious?" Isaac said, speaking for the first time since he sat down. "Yes, apparently Derek feels like it broke some wolf-moral code or something." Lydia shook her head as if the thought disturbed her and turned to her boyfriend who, somehow, was managing to eat the equivalent of three lunches. "Remind me again why I like you?" she said, not hiding the disgust in the slightest. "Because I'm charming, good looking, intelligent, funny.." he trailed off, "You forgot narcissistic," she smiled.

"I just don't understand why she spends all her time with Derek," Scott spoke up, still clearly hung up on the Derek situation. "Well, I mean, he did turn her, so.." Isaac said in between sips of chocolate milk. Scott rolled his eyes, "So what? Peter turned me, you don't see me going to the movies with him?" "He's really not _that_ bad," said Isaac, "I think she just really wants a friend, you know?" "If she wanted friends, she could do _a lot_ better than Derek Hale-" "That hurt, Scott." Derek, followed by Boyd Erica, and Cora approached the table. "If you're going to review me, you could at least take a consensus. Erica, how has life been for you since we met?" Derek asked, grinning ear to ear. "Hm..in a word?" she paused and bit her lip, "Transformative." She flashed her bright, beta yellow eyes and turned to follow Derek and Cora out of the cafeteria, leaving Boyd who sat down at the table. "I _really_ do _not_ like that girl," Lydia said. "You gotta admit, Erica looks pretty good," Stiles said in between bites, "The word sensational comes to mind." Lydia shot him a death glare, to which he immediately said "Sorry," and continued to eat. Allison stood and threw her tray away, going in the direction Erica and the Hales went.

"So, are you ready to tell me who you wanted to talk to last night?" Cora sat down at their usual picnic table outside the cafeteria, immediately biting into a burger. Repulsed by the grease dripping down Cora's chin, Erica grimaced and turned away, only to be met by a pair of dark brown eyes, framed by pale skin and dark hair. "Allison?" "Hey, can we talk," she paused to look at Cora who shot a glare, causing Allison to look at the ground, "like, alone?" Cora rolled her eyes, "I'm not done eating so, you wanna be alone, you two leave," she said as she made a "shoo-ing" motion with her left hand. Now Erica was the one to roll her eyes as Cora started shoveling food into her mouth again. "Let's go," she nodded towards an empty bench on the other end of the parking lot. As the girls crossed to the bench, they were both silent, not exactly sure what was about to happen or be said. Erica sat with one leg on either side of the bench facing Allison who sat timidly on the edge of the opposite end. "So.." Erica said, waiting for Allison to speak.

"I-," Allison paused, furrowing her brow and picking at her fingers. "I just wanted to thank you for-" "Don't even worry about it." Erica cut in, smiling warmly. Allison was still looking down and as she reached up to brush some hair behind her ear, Erica could now see the cuts and bruises on the girl's face. "It's so weird to me to see wounds now," Erica reached out and tilted Allison's head up, "I'm so used to them going away pretty quickly," she gently brushed her thumb around the outline of a bruise framing her cheek. "Oh, they're fine. Nothing a band-aid can't fix," she said with a light laugh. Erica shook her head and smiled, "So you're okay then?" Allison nodded her head, "I'll live," she paused, "thanks to you." Erica could feel her cheeks turning a light shade of pink. The two sat in silence, watching the surrounding students passing and Erica could smell the nervousness coming from Allison.

"Why did you do it?" Allison's voice eventually broke the silence. "Huh?" her question caught Erica off-guard at the time, though she had known it was coming at some point. "Why did you save me last night?" Allison repeated, her voice more steady, as she finally made eye contact. Erica bit her lip, looking down to pick at her jacket sleeve. _Now _I'm_ the one being ridiculous_. She shook it off and sighed, "I couldn't let you get hurt-" she shrugged as Allison raised an eyebrow, "_anymore_ hurt," Erica rolled her eyes and Allison laughed lightly. "You didn't have to do that though." Allison turned slightly to face Erica and put her leg on the bench. "I know how much trouble you're in with Derek, I'm sorry that happened because of me." "Hey, no worries. I'd do it all over again if I had the chance. Your life is more important to me than being in Derek's good graces," Erica smiled. "Erica, hey, we gotta go." Cora ran up to the girls, "Is something wrong?" "No, not exactly, but Derek needs us _now_." "Well, that's my cue.." Erica stood, "Nice talking to ya Argent," she flashed a toothy grin and winked at the girl as she turned and faced Cora to leave.

"So what was that all about?" Lydia asked as she sat her bag down on the bench and pulled out a nail file. "I just wanted to talk," Allison sighed as she watched Erica and Cora turn the corner and disappear behind the building. "About last night? Did she tell you why she did it?" Lydia's questions poured out as she filed away at her nails, stopping only to blow away the ground up dust collecting on her fingertips. "Uh, yeah, I asked, she said she 'had to do it'." Allison didn't want to give the exact details of Erica's weird explanation, then again, maybe a second opinion-one of a genius at that-would help her understand. "Actually," Allison furrowed her brow and bit her lip, "actually, she said '_Your life is more important to me than being in Derek's good graces_'," Lydia stopped filing to give her best friend a puzzled look, "I..I don't know. I was hoping you could explain?"

"Well, I think Stiles mentioned something about her thinking that the bite is more of a gift than a curse, she said she feels obligated to help people who can't help themselves." Lydia looked as though she continued thinking for a moment before going back to filing her nails. Allison sat beside her, processing what she had said. "So then Erica just did it because I'm a human?" she sounded almost hurt when she spoke. Lydia sighed, "I don't know, ask her, but that's what it sounds like to me." She threw the nail file back into her purse and stood, "Now, come on. We have things to do." Lydia pulled Allison to her feet and led her to her car.


	17. Ballad of A Broken Man

"_Love of mine, someday you will die_," Erica sung to herself as she stirred the batter in the bowl in front of her. "_And I'll be close behind, I'll follow you into the dark_," "Hopefully we don't have to worry about that for a really, _really_ long time" Allison said as she hopped down the stairs and stepped behind Erica. Wrapping her arms around the wolf's waist, she laid her head on the girl's shoulder, "Cake for breakfast?" she asked eagerly. Erica lifted the spatula from the bowl and touched Allison's nose, leaving a small drop of chocolate cake mix on the girl's face. "I was really craving something sweet," she said as she stepped away from Allison and grabbed a cake pan. "You could have just woken me up?" Allison said, winking at the blond as she leaned in and gave the girl a small kiss on the lips. Erica laughed and took the cake to the oven, opening the door to slide it in. "So, what are we doing today?" Erica asked, grinning widely as she turned back around to face Allison. Erica dropped the oven mitt, eyes wide, terrified of the view she had met with. Allison was standing opposite the wolf, bow drawn, aiming for her stomach. "What are you-" Erica didn't get to finish, she was cut off as the arrow was released and pierced her abdomen.

Erica let out a hard gasp for air as she shot up from her sleep in the back seat of Cora's car. "What the hell?!" the girl shouted, swerving and eventually coming to a stop on the side of the road. Erica sat up, trying to process what had just happened. "Are you okay? What was that about?" Cora questioned as she turned to face her passenger. Erica didn't know at first, then the memory of her dream flooded her mind. "I, uh, I just had a bad dream." _A really bad dream.. _"You good now?" Cora asked as she started the car again and pulled back onto the road. "Yeah, I'll be fine," Erica slid between the seats and sat down in the front, buckling up. "How long was I out?" she asked, rubbing her eyes and checking her phone. "Just about 30 minutes," Cora said, going back to humming some new Kesha song that was on the radio. Erica rolled her eyes, "I'm starving. When are we getting there?" Erica's stomach growled. "So am I. I'm glad you said that," Cora immediately took the next exit and pulled into the parking lot of a pizza place. "Oh, and.." she pulled out her phone and checked the GPS, "we still have another 30 minute drive." The girls entered the restaurant and were seated almost immediately by a young male host, a little too keen on the girls coming in.

"What can I do for you two beautiful ladies tonight? He said, closely looking over each girl, not bothering to hide it. "For starters, you can go away and stop being disgusting." A girl just a few years older than the boy approached the table, glaring at him until he left. "I apologize, it seems they let _anyone_ work here." She shook her head and sighed. "I'm Crystal," she sat down two menus and a bowl of bread, "I'll be your server this evening. Do you need a few minutes or-" "No, we know what we want," Cora cut in, not noticing—or not caring—how rude she was being.

After giving the waitress a list of food long enough to feed a family of four, Erica settled for just an appetizer and Crystal left. "So where are we going?" she asked as Cora started picking at the bread that had been left. "Well," she said in between bites, "Derek has something he wants us to help him with." Erica raised an eyebrow, "Derek needs out _help_?" "I know," Cora said, shaking her head in disbelief. "I don't know what with though, he won't tell me until we all get there." Cora shoved the last bit of the bread into her mouth just as Crystal returned with the drinks. "Would you like some bread?" She asked, smiling at both girls. "Yeah-" "No, no thank you." Erica cut her off, causing Cora to glare. "Well okay, your food should be done soon." The waitress turned to leave, "What was that for?" Cora demanded. "You eat enough to feed a small army, I think you'll live without a few pieces of bread." Cora rolled her eyes and sipped at her drink. "So, what do you mean by 'we all'?" "You and I, and Isaac and Boyd." _What could he possibly need all of us for?_ "Here ya go," Crystal approached the table with another boy, both of them had their arms full. Cora immediately dug in, demolishing the mountain of food she had ordered. "Why do we have to go out here for whatever it is he needs? I mean the place he's bringing us to," Erica looked at her phone, "It's in the middle of nowhere." Erica started eating, slowly at first, then just as fast as Cora, making her cheese sticks disappear one by one until none were left.

"I honestly don't know anything about what's going on, I just know he wanted us to come out and that it was important." Cora finished the second plate of food she had ordered, moving on to the third. The rest of the meal was eaten in silence, followed by Erica paying for both of them and the girls heading back to the car and on to the road.

Derek walked down the wooden stairs and looked around the dirty basement room. Broken glass and rusted tools were strewn about the various tables surrounding a large, oak tree root. Derek dusted off a stool and sat down, thinking about the earlier events that lead him to be waiting in this dingy room.

"Jackson?" Derek looked at the boy standing in front of him. Jackson Whittemore entered the burned ruins of the Hale home, not speaking, he quietly sat on the staircase next to Derek. "What are you doing here?" asked Derek. The two sat in silence until the boy turned to face the wolf, "I have a proposition for you," Jackson finally spoke. "I want it. I want the bite." Derek laughed, "Seriously, why are you here?" Jackson clenched his jaw as if he were trying to remain calm and keep from saying anything he would regret. "I want the bite," he slowly repeated, enunciating each word as clearly as he could. "You can't be serious?" Derek asked as he stood and walked a few steps away. Jackson shot up from the steps, "I'm willing to be part of your stupid little group, Derek. I'll do whatever it is that you want, but I want this. I _need_ this," he said, clenching his jaw and widening his eyes.

_This kid is insane._ "Why should I do this for you? What good are you gonna be for me?" Derek questioned. Crossing his arms, he scrutinized every word Jackson said, "I'm sick of being the weak one, I want power. And I know you want power too." Derek raised an eyebrow, before he could protest, "I also know you're _terrified_ of Professor Duke's pack." Derek closed his mouth and scratched the back of his head. "That's none of your concern, Jackson." Derek walked past Jackson and up the stairs. "You _need_ me, Derek. You couldn't take on that girl alone and you know it!" Jackson shouted. "You're weak. Alpha or not, you are _weak_." Jackson's words were cold as he mocked the wolf, seemingly unafraid he would do anything in retaliation to his comments. "Weak?" Derek scoffed. "Yeah, _weak_." Derek's jaw tightened, as he clenched his fists. Before he had time to react, Derek leaped from the top of the staircase to the bottom, inches away from Jackson, fully shifted. Derek let out a low, threatening growl and Jackson stepped away, feeling scared of the alpha for the first time since he'd known him.

Derek's bright red alpha eyes seemed to be burning a hole in Jackson. "Look I'm sorry, okay, I'm sorry," Jackson held his hands up trying to calm the wolf. "I just, I'm sick of not being able to do anything. Please, Derek." Derek relaxed his face enough that Jackson felt confident he wasn't still considering killing him. _That was close._ "Jackson," Derek shifted back to normal. "Please?" Jackson looked at Derek with pleading eyes. "I can't make any promises..but I'll think about it. But if, and I do mean _if_ I do this, there's going to be a lot of rules and things you'll need to learn, and you have to give me your word you'll do your best at attempting to follow and learn them, just like everyone else." Jackson rolled his eyes, "I mean it, Whittemore. Most of them deal with keeping you _alive_, if you can't do that then I see no point in turning you." Jackson sighed heavily, "Fine, whatever. When will I know?" "When I know. Now get lost." Derek turned and disappeared into the darkness of the Hale ruins.


	18. Learn Your Place

**A/N: First, I want to apologize profusely for my absence, I've been horribly stuck on this chapter and the end-result makes that very obvious. So, please, don't be deterred by this awful chapter. I swear on my laptop that it gets better, next chapter is already pretty stellar. Thanks to everyone who so graciously reads this. Don't be afraid to tell me what you think!**

Cora pulled to the side of the road and shut off the engine. "Let's go," she said as she stepped out of the car. Followed by Erica, Cora made her way to the edge of the trees and started into the woods. "Where are we going?" Erica asked as she reluctantly followed her best friend into a clearing. "It's sort of a..meeting place," Cora answered. "It's called the Nemeton," Boyd answered as he and Isaac stepped into the clearing. "This used to be a large oak tree, but now it's just this stump and the roots. Druids would meet here to perform rituals and stuff. It's said to host a lot of power." "When did you become a druid expert?" Derek asked as he flung open the hatch leading to the basement floor of the Nemeton. "I'm not an expert, I just pay attention in class," Boyd raised his eyebrows at Derek, "unlike someone else I know," "Unlike a couple someones," Erica cut in nudging Cora.

Derek rolled his eyes, "Can we get back on track now?" Followed by his betas, Derek made his way back into the cellar. Once everyone was in, Derek pulled the door shut and motioned for everyone to sit down. "The reason I wanted you guys to meet me here," he started, speaking slowly and showing signs of nervousness, "when I turned Erica," the blond looked up from her hands at the mention of her name, "when I did that, you all were pretty angry with me for not telling you. While I _strongly_ believe I shouldn't _have_ to tell you anything as your alpha, I would like to maintain that role, and I feel like if I keep doing the things I've been doing, I won't have a pack anymore." Those last words caught the group off-guard. Cora began to speak in protest, but Derek raised his hands. "That being said, don't expect me to be completely different. I just want to try and include you all in the decisions more, or at least the big ones."

At this point, the betas' minds were racing; what kind of decision could Derek be making that was so big he decided to include them in it? "_This can't be good,_" thought Isaac. "I was approached by someone today," Derek paused, "he wants the bite." "What?" Isaac and Boyd said in unison. "You didn't say yes did you? Derek not again," Cora boomed. "I didn't say anything other than I would let him know. I thought I should ask you guys." "Why would you agree to it? You can't handle the betas you have now, Derek, adding a new beta, not to mention a new wolf in general, that's just stupid." Cora was standing now, pacing the floor as she spoke. "That's exactly the problem," Derek said, rising to his feet. "I _can't_ control my betas," he glared at Erica, "and now I have a pack, _an alpha pack_, wanting to take me out. I need all the help I can get. You've seen what they can do, Cora." "And what if he doesn't survive the bite, huh? You'll have a dead kid on your conscience." "Wait," Isaac cut in, "_who_ _is it_? You haven't told us that much." "That's not important right now, but no," Derek turned to Cora, "he would survive. He's a strong person, he would make a good addition to the pack, he just has some..attitude problems.." Derek trailed off. "Sounds like Jackson," Isaac muttered to himself, not loud enough for anyone else to hear. "Derek, we can't vote on anything unless we know," Cora squinted at her brother. "_Who is it_?" she repeated.

"Jackson Whittemore," Derek sighed. "What?!" _I was just joking! _"Derek, you can't _actually_ think letting _Jackson _join is a _good_ idea?" Isaac stood, speaking anxiously. "Jackson Whittemore looks out for no one but himself," Boyd cut in. Cora, Isaac, and Boyd were assaulting Derek with words, protesting Jackson's admittance into the group passionately. "Guys, _guys_!" he shouted. "I know he's not exactly a team player," "Ya think?" Cora cut in, Derek glared, "but the fact is, we can't handle _five_ alpha wolves by ourselves. Especially since all of them are a step above your average alpha. We _need_ him," Derek furrowed his brow, "_I_ need him." Cora squeezed the bridge of her nose, trying to relieve some of the pressure built up from Derek's news.

"Derek.." Cora sighed. "We can _try_, Cora. We can-" "I don't think it's a bad idea," Erica cut in. "Mostly because it's my fault we need him in the first place," Derek and Cora both rolled their eyes, "but also because we need it. We need the strength Jackson can bring us." "Erica, he's not gonna listen to us, he's getting some..personal gain from this and he has _no_ interest in helping us," Isaac protested. "We have to try, Isaac. Okay," Derek faced all of the betas, "we'll take a vote, but ultimately..I will decide if he can join us or not," Cora rolled her eyes. "My vote is yes," he said turning to Erica, "Erica?" "Yes," then to Isaac, "No way," and Boyd, "He's no good," and finally Cora. "Cora?" No response. "Cora, yes or no?" Derek asked again. She thought for a moment, chewing the inside of her cheek. She turned to Isaac and Boyd, "I'm sorry, we just can't do it alone," heavily she sighed, "yes." "Well, that's a majority.." Derek paused, staring intently at the ground, "I'll talk to Jackson."

"Erica! Hey, Erica! Wait up!" Isaac rushed to the blond's side as she made her way into the hallway and through the crowd of students trying to get to their next class. "Hey," he said after finally getting to her. "Hi, Isaac," she said in a blank tone. "Hey, so, I was wondering," Isaac was speaking slowly, dragging out his words and driving Erica insane. "Spit it out Lahey," she snapped. "I was just going to ask why you thought it was your fault the alpha pack is after Derek.." he said timidly, alerting Erica to how rude she had been. She sighed, "I'm sorry for snapping. I've been really stressed out and frustrated lately." "Is it the alphas?" "No, I'm not even slightly worried about them." Erica and Isaac waded through the crowd in the cafeteria and sat at an empty table. "It's nothing important. Anyways, the alphas." Isaac listened intently as he sipped at some chocolate milk, occasionally nodding his head at Erica's words. "Kali hates me, not that I mind, but she's basically second in command with them. Her feud is _their_ feud." "Wait, why does she hate you?" Isaac looked confused. Erica rolled her eyes, "Are you even _slightly_ paying attention to me?" Isaac opened his mouth in protest but was cut short, "Because of Allison. That day in the cafeteria..most recently the party. I know she ended up kicking my ass, but I landed a few good hits. That's gotta count for something."

"What's gotta count for something?" Boyd asked as he and Braeden approached the table and sat down, holding hands the entire time. "You two make me sick," Cora said, sitting next to Isaac. "What were you talking about?" Boyd asked, turning to Erica. "Nothing," she shook her head, "how was class?"

All at once the teens started going on about their days, Braeden fell asleep in Lycanthropy, Coach Finstock made Isaac and Boyd skip his Risk vs Reward class to "work on those awful long-handle skills" because "Greenberg was better than they had been in practice all week long" and Erica listened, for the most part, until _they_ walked in. Through the waves of students entering and exiting the cafeteria, Erica could recognize those long, dark curls with ease. Allison and her friends made their way into the food line, laughing and talking with each other. _I wish I had that. _Erica mindlessly poked at the pile of spaghetti sitting on her plate as she daydreamed. "It's okay, everyone. Stiles has arrived," the boy approached the table and sat down smiling widely, "you can all relax now."

Lydia rolled her eyes as she sat down between Stiles and Scott and started to eat. The rest of the table returned to their conversations as Allison came next to Erica, "Hey," she said softly, sitting down beside her. It wasn't until Allison nudged her that Erica noticed the other teens had joined the table. "Did I interrupt some deep thinking?" Allison asked, raising her eyebrows and smiling at the blond. "No, no, just," she stabbed a meatball, "trying to decide if I want to eat this or not," Erica smiled back. Allison laughed as she picked at her own food.

"Alright, let's see if we can't round up some extra points heading into tomorrow's exam," Deucalion scratched at the bottom of his chin as he walked through the rows of students in his Daemonology class. "Ah, I know. What evil spirit possesses humans and turns them into cannibals?" Moments passed and no one answered, "Anyone? Come on, you'll want these points, _trust me,_" he smirked. He looked around the room and finally a hand shot up, "Yes, Mr. Mahealani." "A Wendigo, right?" "Right! Good to know someone pays attention in my class," Deucalion smiled. "Uh, actually," Danny replied, "I just watch a lot of Supernatural." Deucalion rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. "You know, that show gets a lot of things wrong. You can't rely on it to help you in my class, Danny." The boy stared at his professor, "Do I still get the points for the test or..?" Deucalion grimaced, almost as if he were in pain. "I'm truly amazed by the teenage mind.." he sighed to himself, turning to write on the board behind him.

"Dude," Danny leaned forward, tapping his best friend on the shoulder. The boy in front of him didn't seem to notice, as he kept staring blankly in front of him. "Jackson!" Danny slapped the back of his head, "What!" Jackson snapped, alerting the rest of the class. "Is there a problem, Mr. Whittemore?" Deucalion crossed his arms, his face showing his annoyance at the disturbance. "Uh, no. Sorry professor." Jackson sunk down in his seat as Deucalion faced the board again and continued his lecture. "You don't have to be such a jackass," Danny whispered, leaning back in his own seat. Jackson sat up and held his head in his hands. "I'm sorry," he whispered back as he turned around. Danny raised his eyebrows, amused by Jackson's apology that he knew didn't actually mean anything. Jackson's apologies had just become a knee-jerk reaction to situations, something he knew was supposed to happen but didn't understand or care why. Over the years, Danny had learned how to deal with Jackson's rage. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being slightly irritated and 10 being murder, Danny always felt like Jackson was at a constant 4, he was used to the rudeness and anger Jackson always emitted, it was normal.

Jackson turned back around and stared blankly out the window. It wasn't long until something caught his eye standing across the parking lot at the edge of the woods. "Uh, can I be excused?" Jackson asked, standing up and already starting across the room, not waiting for a response. "I guess?" Deucalion's eyes followed the boy out of the room as he disappeared down the hall. Jackson exited the school and made his way to the black car parked a few feet away from the woods where Derek Hale stood. "Well?" Jackson asked immediately, then without giving Derek time to answer, "Derek I _need_ this." "Walk with me," was all he said as Derek made his way into the woods, followed by Jackson after dropping his bag by Derek's car.

Derek stops, facing Jackson after a short walk through the woods. "I'm not just going to turn you so you can go and get killed by hunters." "That's funny," Jackson scoffed, "you seem to think _you_ would be protecting _me_." "That's _exactly_ what I'll be doing," Derek retorted. "Right," Jackson crossed his arms, "and why is it you needed me again?" Before Derek could say anything, Jackson answered himself. "That's right, for _your_ protection. Because you can't seem to handle the big bad alpha pack by yourself." Jackson's remarks were wearing Derek thin. "I'm trying to be patient with you," "I don't need your patience. What I _need _is for you to give me what I want." "You don't get it, do you?" Derek angrily replied. "This isn't about what _you want_ or even what _I_ _need_. This is about protecting my pack," Jackson rolled his eyes, "_your_ friends," Derek's voice grew louder and angrier.

"_My_ friends? None of the people involved are _my _friends." "You're right," Derek snapped. "None of them are your friends because you _have no friends_. No one cares that you drive the fancy car. No one cares that you have perfect hair. No one cares that you're captain of the lacrosse team. Everything that _you_ think is important, is small compared to everything else going on." Derek assaulted Jackson with words, leaving no time for the teen to defend himself. "You have the chance to do something _really_ good for once, yet here you are mocking me, refusing to follow the simplest of rules that come with the bite." "I'm not going to be your lap-dog, Derek!" Jackson boomed. "It's not," Derek paused, frustrated, "forget it. You're wasting my time." Derek turned, facing the direction they came from and began to walk away. Jackson stared at him for only a moment before grabbing Derek by the arm, "We are _not _finished," but before Jackson could finish his sentence, Derek reversed the boy's grab, twisting his arm behind his body, slamming him into a nearby tree. Just as Jackson's body hit the hard trunk, Derek's teeth sunk into the boy's left shoulder, tearing through the flesh, causing Jackson to release a bloodcurdling scream. Derek dropped the teen to the ground, "You wanted the bite, you got it," he says, walking away from Jackson's crumpled body on the ground.


End file.
